
Book ^_L_^jii=LSl 



MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 



'Time rolls his ceaseless course. The race of tore 

Who dasced our infancy upon their knee. 
And told our marvelling boyhood legend's store 

Of their strange ventures happ'd by land or sea. 
How are they blotted from the things that be i 

how few, all weak and withered of their force, 
Wait on the verge of dark eternity, 

Like stranded wrecks, the tide returning hoarse 
to sweep them from our sight. time rolls his ceaseless course." 



MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 



EMBRACING A 



RECORD OF INDIVIDUALS AND EVENTS 



CHIEFLY IN 



THE EARLY HISTORY OF BENNINGTON, VT. 



FIE ST CHURCH. 



ISAAC JENNINGS, 

Pastoe of the Curr.cu. 



Kr, 



BOSTON: 

Q-OXJLr) ^ISTD Tullsr C O L. N , 

59 WASHINGTON STKEET. 

1869. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1869, by 

ISAAC JENNINGS, 

In tlie Clerk's Office of the District Court for the District of Vermont. 



.6'\'i 



Kockwell & Rollins, rrinters and Stereotypors, 
122 Wasliington Street, Boston. 




MAP OF BKN'NINUTOX BATJLK. 

Ser p.p. l6S-!7t 
TkeHiver was 6,v -m/st/iie caflr/I Jfo-snciri/ii-/ 'Arj-r tm.s njj iiiAicaltmt oftJir pafnl-s of rmnpris.-i . othnwi.ie 
Uve aiavc, rs fin. eaxrcl Copy ,rrdT,rffjl ojtkr }f<ip in SurcfovrtesSUitj^ q/'/^/f A'xpfdifion 
The letterpress is of course JBrMshy. fbr^tmericeoi Jblun/eers rau)f Torres. "Bodies of (Ae JCne-my. 
^tveans IWrcAS or Gen, ■ StarTc . " IPal/nscocA: ntar^tx Wa/loom-iae. 



THE PEOPLE OF HIS PASTORAL CHARGE, 



"WITH AFFECTION AND ESTEEM, 



ail inteusteti m tlje lEarlg Pli'starg of loEnnington, 

THIS VOLUME 

IS RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED, 



THE AUTHOR. 



Bennington, Jan. 6, 1S63. 



To Rev. Isaac Jennings. 



Dear Sir: Having listened with much pleasure to your very interesting 
centennial discourse, delivered on the 4th inst., and considering it of great 
historical value, we are very desirous that it should be published for distri- 
bution and preservation; and we would respectfully request you to furnish 
a copy for the press. 



H. G. Root. 
George Benton. 
M. C. Morgan. 
Stephen Bingham. 
S. F. Harris. 
M. G. Selden. 
F. C. AVhite. 



HiLAND Hall. * 
A. B. Gardner. 
Samuel Chandler. 
George Lyman. 
I. W. Vail. 
H. H. Harwood. 
William Webb. 



PREFACE. 




)HE foundation of this volume is the discourse de- 
livered at the Centennial Celebration of the organ- 
ization of the Bennington First Church, the publi- 
cation of which was requested by the note on the 
preceding page. 
The first nine chapters are, without essential modification, 
the discourse. Some account of the centennial celebration 
and the conclusion of the discourse make up chapter twenty- 
six. 

In view of publication, four subjects presented themselves 
for a more complete consideration than the writer had given 
to them, namely : the land-title controversy ; the Ben- 
nington battle ; the individual men and women of Bennington 
in the past times ; and the Separatist antecedents of many of 
the first inhabitants, together with their promotion of civil 
liberty as to public worship. Hence so many pages devoted 
to these subjects, and a volume instead of a discourse. 

The writer has been in various ways much assisted by 
numerous kind friends of the work. He would make par- 
ticular mention of his indebtednoss to William Haswell, 
Esq., cle»'k of the church, now deceased, for reminiscences, 
documents, and labors ujjon the church records, without 



VIII PREFACE. 

which these memorials would be far more imperfect than 
they are ; to the Rev. R. C. Learned, of Plymouth, Conn., — 
an esteemed college classmate, deceased April 19, 1867, — for 
information respecting Separatism in Connecticut ; to S. F. 
Plimpton, Esq., of Boston, Mass., — also an esteemed college 
classmate, deceased April 22, 1867, — for extensive and ac- 
curate researches amongst the laws of Massachusetts in their 
bearing upon the Separates; and to the Hon. Hiland Hall, — 
the able late president of the Vermont Historical Society, 
writer of the historical account of Bennington (so compre- 
hensive as to be in itself a history of the town) in Miss 
Hemmenway's "Vermont Historical Magazine," and author 
of "The Early History of Vermont." Almost the entire 
manuscript of these " Memorials," before their final com- 
pletion for the press, had the benefit of his careful revision. 
His valuable aid in many ways, and active interest in the 
success of these labors, demand grateful acknowledgment. 

Thanks are also due to those who have encouraged the 
undertaking by subscribing for copies of the volume in ad- 
vance, who belong to other churches and parishes in the 
town, and who, though now many of them prominent in the 
community, have not by early settlement here, or by genea- 
logical descent, any connection with its early history, and it 
may be their names do not occur in the folloAving pages. 

And finally the author feels under obligation to the ex- 
perienced judgment and kind co-operation of the publishers. 

Bennington CiiNxitE, Vt., April, 180y. 



COI^^TEI^TS. 



CHAPTER I. 

TOWNSHIP. 

Page 

Charter. — Proprietors' Records. — The first Immigration. — The first Public 

Meeting. — Hardships of the fii-st Settlers 19 



CHAPTER II. 

FIRST MEETING-HOUSE. 

Its Location. — Its Cost, how provided for. — Description of the first Meeting- 
house. — Memorable Days of the first Meeting-house. — Its Removal to give 
place to the second Meetiug-hou^e. — Farewell to the first Meeting-house. 24 



CHAPTER III. 

THE CHURCH. 

Name of the original Church. — Date of Organization. — Churches previously 
on the Ground. — Original Members of the First Church. — Call to Rev. 
Jedidiah Dewey. — Call to the Westfield Church and Pastor. — Council at 
Westfield. — Early Growth of the First Church. — Accessions during Mr. 
Dewey's Ministry. — State of Society, — Roll of the Church for its first Cen- 
tury. — Table of Additions. — Pastors — Deacons. — Clerks. — Interesting 
Memoranda 31 



X COXTEXTS. 

CHAPTER IV. 

SEPARATISM. 

Interesting Subject of Inquiry. — Proceedings in the Sunderland Church. — 
Separates excommunicated in some Instances. — Cause of the Settlement 
of Bennington. — The " Great Awakening." — Connecticut Laws. — "Old 
Lights" and "New Lights." — Heat of the Controversy. — Massachusetts 
Laws. — Bennington Separates and Connecticut Separates sympathize. — 
Connecticut Separates compose the Westfield Council 47 

CHAPTER V. 

INTERNAL PERPLEXITIES OF THE CHURCH. 

Financial Controversy. — How shall we pay the Minister ? — The Separate 
Way modified. — The Church opposed to extreme Separatism. — Two Par- 
ties to a long Church Controversy. — Spiritual Declension. — A Sign of 
better Things. — How to pay the Minister never settled. — Case of Rev. 
David Avery. — His Talents fail to unite the Church. — His singular Cere- 
mony of Installation. — Ecclesiastical Council. — Blr. Avery's Resignation. 
— The Slavery Question. — A " Consci-hen-tious " Captain 55 

CHAPTER VI. 

THE CHURCH IN THE WORLD. 

Energetic secular Life. Roads and Bridges to build. — Accommodations for 
the travelling Public to maintain. — Land-title Controversy. — Revolu- 
tionary War. — Leading Men in public Life were leading Men in the 
Church. — Muster-roll of the first military Company. — First Saw and Grist 
Mill. — Spread of Religion 65 

CHAPTER VII. 

REVIVALS. 

Bennington Christians believed in Revivals. — They were Friends of Whit- 
field. — They enjoyed numerous Revivals. — Revival of 1803. — The Revival 
needed. — Three-days' Meeting. — Original Hymns. — Miss Read's Narra- 



CONTENTS. XI 

tive of the Revival. — An Inquiry Meeting. — Fruits of the Eevival.— The 
Friday Meeting. — Other Revivals. — Revival of 1S31. — A joyful Com- 
munion Season 71 

CHAPTER VIII. 

THE FIRST SEVEN PASTORS. 
Rev. Jedidiah Dewey. — His Ability and Fidelity. — He became a Separate. 
— His sterling Qualities. — His Ministry in Bennington. — His Services in 
the Land-Title Controversy. — Anecdotes of Mr. Dewey. — His Genealogy 
and Family. — Rev. David Avery. — His Army Labors as Chaplain in 
the Revolution. — A "War Sermon. — His Ministry in Bennington. — His 
Manner in the Pulpit. — His last Sickness and Death. — Rev. Job Swift, 
D.D. — His Genealogy and Education. — Troubled State of public Af- 
fairs during his Ministry in Bennington. — His ministerial Success. — 
His Matter and Manner as a Preacher. — His missionary Zeal. — His 
Hospitality and Benevolence. — His University Honors. — He died in the 
Triumphs of Faith. — Rev. Daniel Marsh. — His ministerial Labors.— 
His Call to Bennington and Installation. — Additions to the Church during 
his Ministry here. — Excellent Characteristics of Mr. Marsh, — His subse- 
quent Labors in the Ministry. — His last Sickness and Death. — His Wife. 

— His Family. — Extracts from Diary of Benjamin Harwood. — Rev. Ab- 
salom Peters, D.D. — His Parentage and Education. — His Fields of Labor 
and public Services. — His Bennington Pastorate. — An Anecdote. — His 
Sermon against public Immoralities. — Rev. Daniel A. Clark. — His An- 
cestors. — His Settlements and other Labors in the Ministry. — His Power 
in the Pulpit. — His Assaults upon Intemperance and other Immoralities. 

— He excited Opposition. — Revivals in Connection with his Labors.— His 
Decease. — Rev. E. W. Hooker, D.D. — His Parentage and Education.— 
His Fields of Labor. — His published AVorks.- His Love for his Profes- 
sion. — His Ministry in Bennington. — His Family -82 

CHAPTER IX. 

TRANSIENT MINISTERS. 
Rev. Mr. Burton. — An Anecdote. — Father Marshall. — His Eccentricity. — 
His Conversion. — Anecdotes of Father Marshall. — Rev. J. Spaulding. 

— His Labors. — His printed Works. — His Politics. — Rev. Jedidiah Bush- 
nell. — Rev. Lemuel Haynes. — Rev. Edward Dorr GriiTen, D.D. — His Ser- 
mon at the Funeral of Alonzo B. Stiles IIC 



XII CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER X. 

THE LAND-TITLE CONTROVEKSY. 

Proclamation of Gov. Colclen. — Charter to the Duke of York, 1664. — Order 
in Council of the King, 176i. — High-handed Proceedings of New York. — 
The Settlers determined to resist the New York Claim to Jurisdiction. — 
Order in Council of the King, 1767. — Spirit of the New York Colonial Gov- 
ernment. — Spirit of the Settlers upon the New Hampshire Grants. — Their 
Shrewdness, Moderation, and Patriotism. — Length of the Struggle. . . 126 

CHAPTER XI. 
THE LAND-TITLE CONTROVERSY, CONTINUED. 

Controversy with New Hampshire. — Bennington Head-quarters of the Re- 
sistance to New York. — Unsuccessful Attempt to get Possession of the 
Breakenridge Farm. — Rescue of Remember Baker. — The Green Moun- 
•tain Boys, — Council of Safety. — Catamount Tavern. — Bennington Men 
prominent in the Negotiations at Philadelphia. — Convention at Dorset. — 
Notes to the above two Chapters 140 

CHAPTER XII. 

THE BENNINGTON BATTLE. 

Anxiety in the Country previous to the Battle. — Surrender of Ticonderoga 
and Defeat at Hubbardton. — Perplexity of Gen. Washington. — Prestige of 
Burgoyne. — Indian Terrors. — Murder of Miss McCrea. — Baum's Expedi- 
tion. — Burgoyne's Instructions to Bcium. — Baum's Force. — Vermont 
aroused. — Feeling at Bennington. — Determined Spirit of the Settlers.— 
Getting a Foothold. — Address of the Council of Safety. — Preparations to 
meet the Enemy. — Patriotic Offer of John Langdou.— Gen. Stark. — Ef- 
fects of Tories confiscated. — Baum's Movements before the Battle.— 
Gen. Stark's Movements. — Gen. Stark marches to meet Baum. — Baum's 
Entrenchments.— Gen. Stark's Force. — His Plan of Attack. — The Bat- 
tle.— Our Soldiers before the Assault on Biium's Works. — Valor of the 
Hessians. — Irresistible Onset of our Men. — The Breastworks carried.— 



! 



CONTENTS. XIII 

Arrival of Breyman with bis Reinforcemeut. — Eenewal of the Battle.— 
Arrival of Warner's Keinforcemeut. — Anxiety of the Council of Safety. 

— Rout of Breyman and complete Victory. — Statements by Eye-wit- 
nesses. — Results of the Battle. — Trophies. — Prisoners. — General Re- 
sults. —Inhabitants of the Grants reassured.— The Country reassured. 
-Further patriotic Exertions of the Green Mountain Boys. — Compara- 
tive Strength of Forces. — Estimate of Gen. Burgoyne. — Our Men not 
trained Soldiers. — Destitution in our Army. — Incidents of the Battle. — 
Exhausting Eflects of the Engagement. — The fighting Tarson. — Wil- 
liamstowu Volunteers. — Williamstown Pra3-er-meeting. — Our Dead. — 
Stanzas of Rev. E. H. Chapin, D.D. — Roll of Capt. Robinson's Company. 

— OdebyMrs.A. C. L. Botta 146 



CHAPTER XIII. 

PERSONAL NOTICES — SAMUEL ROBINSON, SEN., ESQ., AND MRS. 
MARCY L. ROBINSON. 

Samuel Robinson, Esq. — His History before his Settlement in Bennington. — 
His public Services. — His Mission to England. — His Death. — Letter of 
William Samuel Johnson. — Mrs. Marcy L. Robinson. — Her Energy.- 
Her Piety. — Her Decease 20i 



CHAPTER XIV. 

PERSONAL NOTICES — FIRST IMMIGRATION. 

Mrs. Bridget Harwood. — Peter Harwood. — Sarah Harwood. — Eleazer Har- 
wood. — Zechariah Harwood. — Others of Mrs. Bridget Harwood's De- 
scendants. — Rev. Mr. Winchester. — Samuel and Timothy Pratt.— Stephen 
Pratt 213 

CHAPTER XV. 

PERSONAL NOTICES — SECOND IMMIGRATION. 

Dea. John Fassett. — John Fassett, Jr.- Col. Benjamin Fassett. — Col. Ellas 
Fassett. — Other Descendants of Dea. John Fassett. — Dea. Joseph Saf- 
ford. — Gen. Samuel Safford. — Other Descendants of Dea. Joseph SafTord. 
2 



XIV CONTENTS. 

Dea. Erwin Safford. — Elisha Field. — Lieut James Breakenridge. — Dan- 
iel Breakenridge. — Others of the Breakenridge Family. — Ebenezer 
Wood. — Dea. John TTood. — Gov. Moses Robinson. — Capt. Jloses Robin- 
son, Jr. — Major Aaron Robinson. — Other Descendants of Gov. Moses 
Robinson 228 



CHAPTER XVI. 

PERSONAL NOTICES — SECOND IMMIGRATION, CONTINUED. 

Gen. David Robinson. — David Robinson, Jr., Esq. — Hon. Stephen Robinson. 
— Heman Robinson. — Other Descendants of Gen. David Robinson. — 
Judge Jonathan Robinson. — Jonathan E. Robinson. — Gen. Henry Rob- 
inson. — Isaac Tichenor Robinson. — Other Descendants of Judge Jona- 
than Robinson 2.39 



CHAPTER XVII. 

PERSONAL NOTICES — 1762. 

Stephen Fay. — John Fay. — Dr. Jonas Fay. — Benjamin Fay. — Samuel Fay, 
Esq. — Col. Joseph Fay. — Judge David Fay.— Other Descendants of 
Stephen Fay. — Nathan Clark. — Phineas Scott. — Col. Martin Scott. — 
Other Descendants of Phineas Scott 253 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

PERSONAL NOTICES — 1763-1765. 

Capt. Elijah Dewey. — Elijah Dewey Hubbell. — Family of Capt. Elijah Dewey. 
— Dea. Hezekiah Armstrong. — Others of the Armstrongs. — Thomas Hen- 
derson. -Descendants of Thomas Henderson. — Simeon Harmon. — Dea. 
Nathaniel Harmon. — Austin Harmon. — Others of the Harmons. — Gen. 
Ebenezer "Walbridge. — Stebbins Walbridge. — Other Descendants of Gen. 
Walbridge 266 



CONTENTS. XV 

CHAPTER XIX. 

PERSONAL NOTICES — 1706-1769. 

Elnathan Hubbell. — James Hubbell, Esq. — Dea. Aaron Hubbell. — Other 
Desceudants of Elnathan Hubbell. — Joseph Kobinson. — Robert Cochran. 

— David Haynes. — Descendants of David Ha3'nes. — Reuben Colvin. — 
Descendants of Reuben Colvin. — Nathaniel Fillmore. — His Family. — 
Simeon Hathaway. — Thomas Jewett. — Charles Cushman. — Eleazer 
Hawks.— His Family 283 

CHAPTER XX. 

PERSONAL NOTICES — 1775-1776. 

Dea. Joseph Bingham. — Jeremiah Bingham. — Dea. Calvin Bingham. — 
Other Descendants of Dea. Joseph Bingham. — Nathaniel Brush. — Samuel 
Blackmer — Descendants of Samuel Blackmer. — David Henry. — James 
Henry. — John Henry. — Hon. William Henry. — Other Descendants of 
William Henry. — Joseph Hinsdill. — Dea. Stephen HinsdUl. — Other De- 
scendants of Joseph Hinsdill. — Eleazer Edgerton. — Uriah Edgerton, Esq. 

— Other Descendants of Eleazer Edgerton. — John Kinsley. — Abisha 
Kinsley. — Capt. Moses Sage. — Descendants of Capt. Moses Sage. — Sim- 
eon Scars 289 

CHAPTER XXI. 

PERSONAL NOTICES — 1777-1784. 

Gov. Isaac Tichenor. — Thomas H.ill. — Dea. Nathaniel Hall. — Children of 
Dea. Nathaniel Hall. — Ancestors of Thomas Hall. — Anthony Haswell, 
Esq. — Thomas Haswell. — William Haswell. — Other Descendants of An- 
thony Haswell, Esq. — Thomas AVeeks. — David Weeks. — Other Descend- 
ants of Thomas Weeks.— Ichabod Paddock. — William Potter. — Col. 
Martin Norton 299 



XVI CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XXII. 

PERSONAL NOTICES — 1785-1800. 

Dr. Noadiah Swift. — Family of Dr. Noadiah Swift. — Capt. Saxton Squire. 

— Children of Capt. Saxton Squire.— Mrs. Mary Galusha. — Gov. Galu- 
sha. — Kufus Barney. — Elkanah Barney. — Capt. Ebenezer Chace. — Fam- 
ily of Capt. Chace. — Samuel Hicks. — Descendants of Samuel Hicks. — 
IVIrs. Polly Roach. — Descendants of Mrs. Roach. — Dr. Micah J. Lyman. — 
Children of Dr. Lyman. — Col. Orsamus C. Merrill.— Dr. Heman Swift.— 
Roger Booth. — Jesse Loomis. — Children of Jesse Loomis. — Capt. John 
Norton. — Jonathan Hunt. — Family of Mr. Hunt.— Ancestors of Mr. 
Hunt. — Andrew Selden. — Descendants of Andrew Selden 310 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

PERSONAL NOTICES — 1803 AND AFTERWARD. 

Dea. Jotham French. — Rev. "William Harvey. — Daniel Nichols. — Children 
of Daniel Nichols. — William Park. — Thayer. — Jacob Pool. — Charles 
Wright, Esq. — Lyman Patchin. — John Yanderspeigel. — Mrs. Betsey 
Carpenter. — Dea. Isaac Crossett. — Lewis Chandler. — Mrs. Susannah 
Watson. — Dr. WUliam Bigelow. — Gay R. Sanford. — Hon. John H. Olin. 326 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

EDUCATION. 

Common Schools. — First district School-house in Bennington. — General 
Diffusion of common-school Education. — Education in the State. — Article 
in the first Constitution. — Act of 1787. — Remarks of Dr. Williams. — 
Academies and Colleges. — Sons of Vermont. — Academies in Bennington. 

— Clio Hall. — College Graduates, and Others 336 

CHAPTER XXV. 

CHURCHES ORGANIZED IN BENNINGTON SUBSEQUENTLY TO THE 
ORGANIZATION OF THE BENNINGTON FIRST CHURCH — 17f)2-lSCa. 

Rev. Mr. Hibbard and his People. —The First Baptist Church. — The Metho- 
dist Episcopal Church. — St. Peter's Church. — The Hiusdillvillc Presby- 



CONTENTS. XVII 

• 

terian Church. — The Second Coiigregationffl Church. — The Universalist 
Meetiug-house in North Bennington. — The Baptist Church in North Ben- 
nington. — The Hinsdillville Methodist Episcopal Church. — The Methodist 
Chapel in Paper-Mill Village. — The Methodist Chapel in the north-east 
Tart of the Town. — The Roman Catholic Congregation and Church Edifice. 342 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

THE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 

Account of the Celebration. — Concluding Remarks of the Centennial Dis- 
coiu-se 349 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

SUPPLEMENTARY. 

The Township in the Olden Time. — Location of some of the early Settlers. — 
Population of the Town at the Commencement of the Revolution. — Execu- 
tion of David Redding. — Trial of Tibbetts and Whitney for the alleged 
Murder of Stephen Gordon. — Jeffersonian Democracy in the early His- 
tory of Bennington. — Visit of Jefferson and Madison to Gov. Moses Rob- 
inson. — Anthony Haswell's Imprisonment under the Sedition Law. — 
Political Party Spirit in Bennington. — PresentMeeting-house of the First 
Congregational Church. —Articles of Faith 354 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

INFLUENCE OF THE EARLY SETTLERS OF VERMONT ON FREEDOM 
OF PUBLIC WORSHIP. 

Laws of Massachusetts as affecting tlie Separates. — Law of 1700. — Sepa- 
rates incompetent to collect by Law any Assessment or Subscription for 
their own Minister. — The exempting Laws. — Laws of Vermont respect- 
ing Public Worship. — The certificating Laws. — Article on Religious 
Worship in the First Constitution. — Remarks of Dr. Williams. — Credit 

due to the Bennington Pioneers 363 

3* 



XVIII CONTENTS. 



NOTES ON CHAPTERS IV., AND XXVffl. 

I. The Halfway Coa'en ant. — Time of its Prevalency.— Its Effects.— 
Great spiritual Degeneracy in tlie Country. — Opposition to the Keforma- 
tion • 371 

II. Cases of Hardship to the Separates under the operation 
OF Massachusetts Ecclesiastical Laavs. — The Sturbrldge Case. — 
The Titicut Case. — Other Instances of Hardship 376 

III. Merits of Separatism. — Reformation needed. — Rudeness as well 
as Energy. — The Separates not always mindful of Charity. — Results of 
the Separate Movement. — General Return of the Separates to the old 
Churches after the latter had accepted in the main the Reforms which 
the Separates demanded. — The Bennington Separates more favorably sit- 
uated than if they had remained in the vicinity of the old Churches. . . 379 

IV. Laws of Massachusetts and Connecticut Compared. ... 384 

V. Justice to the Puritans. — They did not profess Principles of Equal- 
ity, or entire Freedom of Conscience as to Public Worship. — They were 
nevertheless in Advance of Uieir Times. — The Tree must be judged by its 
Fruits - 387 



APPENDIX. 

A. Charter of Bennington .391 

B. Allen and Warner 394 

C. Covenant of First Church 398 

D. Articles of Newint Separate Church 400 

E. Result of a Separate Ecc. Council 403 

F. Signers' Agreement to be Taxed for Public Worship 404 

G. Paper to Settle Indian Claims 405 

H. Letter of Governor Hutchinson 407 



MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 




CHAPTER I. 

TOWNSHIP, 

)HE FIRST SETTLEMENT of Vermont, and the 
early struggles of its inhabitants not only in sub- 
duing a wilderness, but establishing an indepen- 
dent government," says Sparks, in his "American 
Biography," " afford some of the most remarkable 
incidents in American History." If this is true 
of the State in general, it is especially true of Bennington, 
the cradle of its infancy ; and no less true of Bennington's 
religious than of its secular life ; for as it was the first 
town chartered, so its First Church was the first also in- 
the territory afterward Vermont, and the antecedents and 
early career of this church, which for sixtj'-four years was 
the only one in the town, furnish a subject second to no 
other in interest and importance in the history of Ben- 
nington. 

To present the religious^ side b}' side with the secular 
early life of the town, to gather up remarkable incidents 
of both, to extend careful research in directions heretofore 
neglected, and to combine the whole in a permanent form 
for perusal and preservation, is the design of the follow- 
ing pages. 



20 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

On January 3, 1749, parties, many of them from Ports- 
mouth, New Hampshu'e,! obtained a grant from the New 
Hampshire governor, Benning AYeutworth, Esq., in the 
name of King George II., of a township, six miles square, 
situated six miles north of the Massachusetts line, and 
twenty miles east of the Hudson. According to the pro- 
visions of this charter, these purchasers first divided off 
acre homesteads in the centre, to the number of sixty- 
four for a village plot, and then divided the remainder into 
sixty-four equal parts, and cast lots for the same. Each 
original purchaser is believed to have sold his share with- 
out perhaps ever seeing it, except upon paper, certainly 
to have never settled upon it or improved it. It should 
have been said that, of the sixty-four shares, two went to 
Governor Wentworth, one to the first settled minister, 
whoever he might be, one for schools, and the remaining 
sixty to as many different individuals. ^ 

The township remained an unbroken wilderness for 
thirteen years, though men thus cast lots for it, and 
appropriated it to be some time a town under the name of 
Bennington, in honor of the Christian name of the New 
Hampshire governor. Captain Samuel Robinson, return- 
ing to his home in Massachusetts from one of the cam- 
paigns of the Continental army in the French war, mistak- 
ing his route, passed, by accident, this way ; and, impressed 
by the attractiveness of the countr}', resolved to obtain 
others to join him and come up and settle here. His reso- 
lution was carried into eflect. Others agreed to accompany 
him. They searched out the owners of the land ; they 
purchased the rights of the original grantees, or of those 
to whom the^-^ had sold, and removed hither. 

1 The grantees of Bennington were nianj', probably most, of tliem from Ports- 
mouth. Col. Williams, tlie lirst-uanied proprietor in the charter, was from 
Massachusetts, and afterward settled and died iu Fittsfield. Trobably some 
others were from Massachusetts. 

2 Vermont Hist. Mag, 



THE FIRST IMMIG RATION. 21 

The purchasers of the rights were termed proprietors ; 
and the whole purchase in common, or township as related 
to its purchasers, a propriety. The proprietors had busi- 
ness meetings before a town was organized, and for some 
3'ears afterward ; they settled boundary lines outside of 
the whole, aud between one proprietor and another ; they 
located aud worked some of the roads ; they re-located 
some of the proprietors who were not pleased with their 
original purchase. Spme who found their purchase lying 
on the east side of the township desired to be re-located 
on the west side, and the change was authorized in 
the proprietors' meetings. The proprietors' meeting had 
its moderator ; and the proprietj^, its clerk. Samuel Rob- 
inson, Esq., was moderator of the first proprietors' meeting 
and John Fassett was clerk of the propriety. Records 
were kept, — not folio A^olumes bound in calf and deposited 
with dignity in an iron safe ; a few leaves sewed together 
after the fashion of a school-boy's home-made writing-book 
suflSced. Those records are interesting now. That little 
collection of eight-inch square leaves, now time-worn, — for 
it. is a century old, — is bound in the first part of the first 
volume of the town records, and one can soon read it 
through ; but the transactions recorded there are full of im- 
portance. 

The first public meeting in Bennington, whose minutes are 
preserved, — a proprietors' meeting, — was held on Feb. 11, 
1762, — one year lacking a day before the treaty was signed 
ceding the province of Canada to the British Government, 
and so ending the formidable French war. Therefore, an- 
ticipating the termination of this war, immigration had 
begun to press upward along the western slopes of these 
mountains. The first immigration had reached here seven 
months and twenty-three days before this proprietors' 
meeting, June 18, 1761. It consisted of the families of 



22 MEMORIALS OF A CENTUIiY. 

Peter Harwoocl, Eleazer Harwood, Samuel Pratt and 
Timothy Pratt, from Amherst, Mass. ; Leonard Robinson 
and Samuel Robinson, Jr., from Hardwick, Mass. The 
party, including women and children, numbered twenty- 
two. During that summer and fall other families to the 
number of twenty or thirty came into town, among whom 
were those of Samuel Robinson, Sen., and John Fassett, 
from Hardwick, Mass. ; Joseph Safford, John Smith, John 
Buruham, and Benajah Rood, from jSTewint, Conn. ; Elisha 
Field, and Samuel Montague, from Sunderland, Mass. ; 
James Breakenridge, Ebeuezer Wood, Samuel and Oliver 
Scott, Joseph Wickwire, and Samuel Atwood. In that 
winter, January' 12, the first child was born in the settle- 
ment, Benjamin Harwood, a very worthy and intelligent 
citizen, whose death did not occur until January 22, 1851, 
at the advanced age of eighty-nine years, connecting vividly 
that distant period with our times. 

Our earl}' immigrants had apparently to themselves 
travelled much further to reach the place of their destina- 
tion than the present generation would have to do to go 
over the same ground. One of the descendants of the 
Montagues, a resident in Sunderland, Mass., whence the 
original inhabitants in this town of that name came, in an- 
swer to an inquiry, suggests that his relative did not 
probably remove to Bennington, but farther north toward 
Canada. There can be no reasonable doubt that the rela- 
tive was the same Samuel Montague who was the modera- 
tor of the first town meeting here of which we have recoi'd. 
The mistake, it is probable, originated in an impression, 
prevalent in the communities our immigrants left, that 
they, in removing to Bennington, were proceeding not only 
to an unknown but also to a very far-distant northern 
clime. Tlie first 3'ear of tlie settlement must have been one 
of much privation and hardship ; the tenements, huts with 



HARDSHIPS OF THE FIRST SETTLERS. 23 

logs for walls, and bax-k and brush for the roof; the settlers 
numerous the first winter, — a part women and children. \p. 
a tavern-bill preserved of Samuel Eobinson, Esq., at a 
tavern in Charlemont, Mass., about midway on the route 
from Hardwick, Mass., to this place, tliere is also a charge 
for wheat as eai'ly as April 9, 1761 ; and the inference may 
be that he was then on his way here, some two months in 
advance of the removal of families, to prepare as much as 
possible for their comfort. The seed for sowing the land 
must be brought upon horses for many miles ; also pro- 
visions for subsistence before crops could be grown here. 
The season, however, appears to have been uncommonly 
mild ; the setting in of winter providentially postponed to 
an unusually late period. 



CHAPTER II. 

FIRST MEETING-HOUSE. 

/^^QHE first public meeting, according to the proprie- 

jf-ly\ tors' records as preserved, has been incidentally 

>^^^ mentioned. The first transaction at this meeting, 

(22C? after electing the proper officers, was as fol- 

(§7 lows : — 

" Chose Deacon Joseph Safford, Esq., Samuel Robinson, John 
Eassett, Ebeuezer Wood, Elisha Eield, John Burnham, and Abra- 
ham Newton, a committee to look out a place to set the meeting- 
house." 

By the record of an adjourned proprietors' meeting, 
February 26, 1762, we find the place to set the meeting- 
house determined by the following vote : — 

" The north-east corner of the right of land, No. 27, as near the 
corner as may be thought convenient." 

No public plot had then been laid out ; it was evidently 
assumed that the place for the meeting-house should first 
be selected, and then that roads and other public improve- 
ments should adjust themselves somewhat to that. May 
14, 1766, it was 

" Voted, To give six acres, out of the sixty-four acres called the 
town-plot, for three acres where the meeting-house now stands, 
for public use." 

" Voted, That the road from the meeting-house to Samuel Saf- 
ford's will be the main road, and shall be four rods wide." 



COST OF THE FIRST MEETING-HOUSE. 25 

We find subsequently in the records the three-acre lot on 
which the meeting-house stood, termed the meeting-house 
plot ; and at a still later date the widened road northward 
designated as " The Parade." The first meeting-house 
stood somewhere midway between the site of the present 
one and the Walloomsac House. 

The. precise date of the building of the first meeting- 
house is not known. It was built in time to be occupied 
on or before the year 1766. The cost of it, in the first 
instance, appears to have been met, in part, by a tax upon 
the several rights of land, and in part by a subscription. 
A vote is recorded, 

" To send a petition to the General Court of the province of 
New Hanipsliire to raise a tax on all the lands in Bennington, 
resident and non-resident, to build a meeting-house, and school- 
house, and mills, and for highwa}'s and bridges." 

In a meeting of later date, May 9, 1763, it was 

" Voted, To raise six dollars on each right of land iu Bennington 
for building a meeting-house and school-house." 

The sixty-four rights of land, according to this tax, 
would raise three hundred and eightj'-four dollars. The 
following minute upon the town records will show that 
the meeting-house was in an unfinished state, and that a 
subscription had had something to do with its erection : — 

"October 22, 1768. — This may notify all persons who have 
signed a subscription for building a meeting-house in this place, 
to meet at said meeting-house, to see if they will do anything 
further toward the finishing of the meeting-house. To see if 
they will lay out the pew ground, and dispose of the same by 
public vendue." 

There is preserved, in the possession of Dewey Hub- 
bell, a subscription list to farther finish the meeting- 
3 



26 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

house. This undertaking was in 1774, some ten years 
after the building of the house. In this subscription list 
are some one hundred and sixty names, and subscriptions 
as high as ten pounds, others as low as ten shillings. The 
agreement was, that if the finishing and repairing cost 
more than the aggregate subscription, the additional 
amount should be paid by the subscribers in the propor- 
tion of their subscription, and if less, the balance should 
be deducted from their subscription in the same propor- 
tion. 

The size of this meeting-house was fifty by forty, with 
the addition of a porch twenty feet square. There was no 
steeple. The porch extended upward to the roof, and in the 
upper story a school was kept for some j-ears. In 1797, 
Miss Sedgwick, sister of the Rev. Job Swift, D. D., taught 
school there; in 1798-9, Miss Thankful Hunt, sister of 
Jonathan Hunt, was the teacher ; she afterward returned 
to Northampton, Mass. There were galleries on three 
sides of the house ; and square pews ornamented with lit- 
tle railings in the place of a top-panel, the balusters of 
which would be occasionally loose so as to turn round in 
their places, and furnish a little diversion for listless young 
worshippers. There was a sounding-board over the pulpit ; 
three doors for entrance and exit, — one, through the porch 
on the east side, toward the burying-ground and opposite 
the pulpit, which was in the middle of the west side ; and 
two other doors opposite each other on the north and south 
sides respectively. The building lengthwise stood north 
and south, with the roof sloping tp the east and west ; 
there was a main aisle through the centre from the pulpit 
to the porch running east and Avest, and aisles from the 
north and south (end) doors going round and so arranged 
as to leave a tier of wall pews all round the house, and 
two tiers of square pews on each side of the main aisle in 



MEMORABLE SCENES. 27 

the bod}- of the house. In the front seat of the gallery 
opposite, and on either side of the pulpit, sat the singers. 
That there was not always due order in the house in time 
of worship appears from an entr}' in the town records, 
March 26, 1777: — 

" Voted, That such persons as do continue playing in the meet- 
ing on the Lord's day, or in the worship of God, be complained 
of to the committee of safety for said town, who are hereby au- 
thorized to flue them disci'etionary." 

In this meeting-house proprietors' meetings were repeat- 
edly held ; also town meetings ; even after the erection of 
the court-house, town meetings w-ere held occasionally 
here. In this first meeting-house the people met to wor- 
ship God and give thanks after the taking of Ticonderoga, 
when that redoubtable fortress obej'ed the summons of 
Ethan Allen "to surrender, in the name of Jehovah and 
the Continental Congress." Col. Allen being a resident 
of Bennington, and having returned with other officers to 
be present at the services, this circumstance gave peculiar 
interest to the occasion. From the pulpit under that 
sounding-board the Rev. Mr. Dewey preached a war ser- 
mon the Sunday preceding the Bennington battle. To 
this meeting-house the Hessians and others, prisoners cap- 
tured in that battle, were brought for safe custody. It was 
as they were marching in solemn sadness hither, and while 
they were passing the Catamount Tavern, near by, that 
" Landlord Fay " stepped out, and with a gracious bow in- 
formed the prisoners that the dinner was then ready, which 
their officers, confident of gaining the victory, had haugh- 
tily ordered by a message sent in the day before. In the 
same meeting-house the first Legislature of Vermont held 
its June session, 1778. The General Assembly of 1779, 
also that of 1780, and in some instances successive Legis- 



28 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

latures, met here.^ Oa the journal of the General Assem- 
bly of 1778, under date of June 5, is the following rec- 
ord : — 

" Voted, That the Rev. Mr. Dewey be presented with the com- 
pliments of this House, to desire him to pray with the Assembly 
at their opening in the morning, for this present session." 

In this first meeting-house, also, for want of room in 
the court-house, was conducted the famous trial of Whitney 
and Tibbits for the alleged wanton murder of the Indian, 
Stephen Gordon, — in which trial Pierrepoint Edwards was 
successfully emplo3'ed for the defence, coming all the way 
from New HaA'cn, Conn., for that purpose. 

But not alone for secular transactions and scenes was 
this primitive sanctuary memorable. Of its spiritual his- 
tor}'^ there shall be a more full relation hereafter. Let it 
suffice to say that from beneath its sounding-board the 
Rev. Mr. Dewey preached during his ministry here ; also 
the Rev. Mr. Averj^ and the Rev. Dr. Swift. Within its 
walls the fathers and mothers of the church, and of the 
churches, in this town, met together for public worship ; 
and here were Avitnessed signal displays of the reviving 
and converting grace of God. In it was held for long the 
Friday praj-er-meeting, a weekly meeting held in the after- 
noon, and remembered with interest, and often alluded to, 
by aged inhabitants of the town familiar with the memora- 
ble da^^s of the old first meeting-house. A few incidents 
connected with this Friday meeting will be found in sub- 
sequent pages of this volume. 

1 The first Legislature of VcrrDont was organized aiid held a session in Slarch 
(1778), in Windsor, and adjourned to hold another session in Bennington. It 
met according to adjournment, and opened in form (June 4, 1778) at tlie house 
of Captain Stephen Fay, the Catamount Tavern, and adjourned to meet tlie next 
morning in tlie meeting-house where the remainder of the session was held. 
The Bennington session of the General Assembly of 1799 was held also by 
adjournment of a AVindsor session of the Assembly. 



FAREWELL TO THE OLD MEETING-nOUSE. 29 

Soon after the close of the Rev. Dr. Swift's ministry 
here, and before the installation of his snccessor, the old 
meeting-house was superseded by the new one, and removed 
awa}'. The following is an extract from the sermon of 
the Rev. Daniel Marsh, preached at the dedication of the 
new meeting-house : — 

"We can say of the new meetiug-liouse, it far exceeds the for- 
mer in magnitude, riches, aud elegance ; but cau we hope the 
glory of the latter house shall be greater than that of the former 
in the gracious presence of God? Though the latter Jewish tem- 
ple was far inferior to the former iu its earthly splendor and 
glorj", yet the latter exceeded the former iu glory in being hon- 
ored with the personal presence of Christ, and his promising that 
iu that place he would give peace. But cau we, my brethren, 
hope for greater special blessings in this latter house than your 
fathers and yourselves have experienced iu the former ? You can 
look back to the ancient building and remember the many pre- 
cious showers of divine blessing which have there been shed 
down from the Father of mercies. You can remember the gra- 
cious outpourings of his Holy Spirit, which fired the hearts of 
his people with* love, which caused sinners in Zion to tremble, 
aud many souls iu captivitj' to sin and Satan to be set at liberty, 
and shout the praises of Zion's King ! You can remember the many 
joyful hours you have spent in the demolished house of God, and 
take your final farewell. But never, no, never, will it be erased 
from your remembrance how often your blessed Jesus hath met 
you, mingled with you, and communed with you there ; how 
often you have sat under his banner of love with great delight, 
aud his fruit was sweeter than the honeycomb to j'our taste. 
With mingled emotions of joy and sorrow, do you uot now take 
your last leave of yonder spot of earth which had beeu devoted to 
the service of your God for this more spacious building? " 

Thei'e appears to have been, for some portion of the time 

at least, a place of common resort, apart from the meetiijg- 

house, for social religious services between the preaching 

services on the Sabbath. A communication iu the " Vermont 

3* 



30 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

Gazette" of May 3, 1803, mentions sucli a place, where, 
during the intermission, " the church generally convened to 
pass that period in suitable exercises and prayer." It is 
related that Mrs. Samuel Robinson, Sen., had such meet- 
ings in her house, and also tlie Friday meetings, if not 
constantly, for a period at least, on frequent occasions. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE CHURCH. 

I. Organization. — It is time we leave the external 
house, and turn our attention to the bodj^ of believers, to the 
efforts, and the divine blessing upon them, to gather, main- 
tain, and perpetuate the ordinances, the assembly of saints 
and the body and succession of Christian people. The 
high use of the house of worship is as a home for the family 
of brethren and sisters in Christ, and the sphere of their 
concentrated spiritual labor for the salvation of souls. 
Hitherto I have consulted more prominently the pro- 
prietors' records and town records ; let us turn now to 
the church records. 

We find that the church of Christ in Bennington — 
which was the original designation, without any denomina- 
tional epithet, of the first church organized within the 
limits of the present State of Vermont — came into existence 
on December 3, 1762. — The next was the church in New- 
bury, organized in September. 1764.. — As we have seen, 
early in February, 1761, the committee was appointed, by 
vote in proprietors' meeting, to select the site for the 
meeting-house ; early in December of the same year the 
first church was organized. 

The entire minutes of the record of organization are as 
follows : — 

" Bennington, December 3, 1762. 

" The church of Christ from Hard wick, aud the church of Christ 
from Suuderlaud, met together aud after prayers agreed upon 
and voted : — 



32 MEMORIALS UF A CENTURY. 

" 1. That said church from Havdwick and said church from 
Sunderland join together and become one body, or church of 
Christ in Bennington. 

" 2. That John Fassett shall be the clerk to keep the records of 
the aforesaid Hardwick and Sunderland churches, and also now 
Bennington church records. 

" 3. It is agreed upon and voted by the church of Christ iu Ben- 
nington, that they make an exception in the fourth paragraph, in 
the eleventh chapter in Cambridge Platform, in respect of using 
the civil law to support the gospel; and also the ninth paragraph 
in the seventeenth chapter, in respect of the civil magistrate's 
coercive [co-hersive] power. 

"4. Voted, To receive in Joseph SaSbrd and Anne Safibrd his 
wife into full communion with this church. 

• "5. Voted, To receive Stephen Story into full communion with 
this church. 

" 6. Voted, To receive Bethiah Burnhara, wife of John Burnham, 
into full communion with this church. 

" 7. Voted, To receive Eleanor Smith, wife of John Smith, into 
full communion with this church." 

Antecedents. — Of these Sunderland and Hardwick 
churches more is to be said hereafter ; it is now chiefly 
to be noticed that there were alread}^ churches existing 
here, •though not here organized ; and it is to be inferred 
that church privileges were here enjo^'cd. Capt. Samuel 
Robinson, Sen., and James Fay were or had been deacons 
of the Hardwick Church. ^ According to tradition, John 
Fassett was or had been deacon, probably of the Hardwick 
Church. Joseph Saflbrd, who came here in the sunnuer or 
fall of 1861, had been deacon of a church in Newint, Conn., 
as appears by records of that church preserved by his de- 
scendants in this town. B3' these records it also appears 
that Bethiali Burnham, Ann Satford, wife of Joseph Safford, 
John Smith and Eleanor Smith, who united with the Ben- 
nington church at the time of its organization, were from the 

1 HiircUvick Centennial Address of the Kev. Mr. Paige. 



ORIGINAL MEMBERS OF THE CHURCH. 33 

church in Newint. The attornej^ for Redding was John 
Burnham, Jr., a lawyer evidently of sonie influence and force 
of character, and we find upon the Newint church records 
the name of his father, John Burnham, and also of Bethiah 
Burnham, Jr. Stephen Story, one of the original members 
of the [feennington church, and deceased 1766, in the seven- 
tieth year of his age, had, as appears upon his grave-stone 
in our burying-ground, been a deacon somewhere. From 
records now in Sunderland, Mass., we learn that Experi- 
ence Richardson, Elisha Field, Jonathan Scott, and Samuel 
Montague were members of the Sunderland church before 
its removal to Bennington. Preparatory, therefore, to the 
organization of the Bennington church, there must have 
been a stalwart community of Christian men and families, 
who had arrived a twelvemonth, more or less, before ; and 
who from the first of their arrival had been recognized mu- 
tually as the followers of Christ, meeting together on the 
Sabbath and at other stated times for religious worship, and 
celebrating together the communion of the Lord's Supper. 

Original Ifembers. — Of the members of the Beimington 
church, at its organization, so far as the names are pre- 
served, there were thirtj^-two males and twenty-five females, 
making a total of fifty-seven. — The number indicates a large 
influx of people the first year and a half of the settlement 
of the town. — The names are as follows : George Abbott, 
George Abbott, Jr., James Breakenridge, William Bi'eaken- 
ridge, David Doane, Jonathan Eastman, John Fassett, Dan- 
iel Fa}^, James Fay, James Fay, Jr., Elisha Field, Jacob 
Fisk, Benjamin Harwood, Eleazar Harwood, Zechariah Har- ^ 
wood, Aaron Leonard (Martha, his wife, was one of the 
separating members from the old church in Sunderland), 
Samuel Montague, Samuel Pratt, Jedidiah Rice, Oliver Rice, -"' 
John Roberts, Samuel Robinson, Silas Robinson, Joseph 
Salford, Simeon Sears, Jonathan Scott, Jonathan Scott, Jr., 



34 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

Elijah Story, Stephen Story, Samuel Tubbs, Benjamin Whip- 
ple, Ichabod Stratton, Martha Abbott, Rebecca Abbott, 
Pearce Atwood, Bethiah Buruham, Elizabeth Fa}", Lydia 
Fa}^, Mehitable Fay, Elizabeth Fisk, Bridget Harwood, 
Elizabeth Harwood, Martha Montague, Marcy Newton, 
Baty Pratt, Elizabeth Pratt, Hannah Rice, Experience 
Richardson, Elizabeth Roberts, Marcy Robinson, Ann Saf- 
ford, Elizabeth Scott, Eleanor Smith, Sarah Story, Hepzi- 
bah Whipple, Prudence Whipple, Martha Wickwire. 

Of six of the names in this list, it may be interesting to 
know the number of individuals of the same name on the 
church roll for the first century of its existence. This 
enumeration is as follows : Sears, twelve ; Fassett, thir- 
teen ; Safford, sixteen ; Fay, seventeen ; Scott, twenty ; 
Harwood, fifty-one ; Robinson, fiftj'-six. Of names not on 
the list of original members, instances of highest enumer- 
ation of individuals are as follows : Hubbell, and Nichols, 
each, twelve ; Bingham, thirteen ; Hinsdill, sixteen •, Hath- 
away, nineteen ; Henry, twenty-one ; Hicks, twenty-five. 

11. The Westfield Church and Pastor. — At the first 
business meeting of the church after its organization, a 
standing committee was appointed. 

"Chose brethren Joseph Saflbrd, Elisha Fiekl, and John Fassett 
as helps to examine into persons' priuciples who ofl'er to join 
themselves unto this church ; and also to provide preaching." 

At the business meeting May 24, 1763, 

"Gave the Rev. Mr. Jedidiah Dewey a caU to the work of the 
ministry among us." 

Ministers were not so numerous then as now. Of Mr. 
Dewey they had heard, and that there was a possibility of 
obtaining him, and for him they sent. 



MINUTES OF THE COUNCIL. 35 

But they were in pursuit not only of a minister, but of 
more members also ; they had already absorbed two 
churches, and now they essa^'ed a third, the church at 
Westfleld, Massachusetts. They, however, preferred to take 
minister, church, and all. 

Westfield Council. — That the}' might proceed very or- 
derly, an ecclesiastical council was employed. The partic- 
ulars of this council will be sufficiently given here by insert- 
ing the minutes respecting it, preserved upon the Benning- 
ton church records. They are as follows : — 

" The act of the Council at Westfield, August 14, 1763. 

" At a council conveued at Westfield by letters missive ' from the 
church of Christ at Beuuingtou : Preseut, John Palmer, pastor 
of the church of Christ in Scotland (Connecticut) ; Israel Haw- 
ley, pastor of the church of Clu-ist in Suflield (Connecticut) ; 
Jonathan Underwood and Stephen Remington, messengers of the 
church at Suflield; the church at Bennington being present by 
three delegated brethren ; together with the church at Westfield. 
The council was received into fellowship. Chose John Palmer 
for moderator, and, after solemn prayer to Almighty God for 
diviue assistance and direction, proceeded : — 

" The first thing laid before us was the proposed contract be- 
tween the church at Westfield and the church at Nine Partners, 
respecting the church at Westfield removing to Nine Partners, 
and becoming one church with them; and in the consideration 
thereof the council found said conti'act Avas made void by consent 

1 The assembling of this council was a laborious undertaking. Carrying letters 
by post was then unknown in these parts. In 17S3, the Governor and Council of 
Vermont established a weekly post (twenty years after the summoning of the 
Westfield council) between Bennington and Albany, N. Y. The next year the 
Legislature established five post-offices ; one each at Bennington, Rutland, Brat- 
tleborough, Windsor, and Newbury. Between these several places a mail was 
transmitted once a week each way, and Anthony Haswell, Esq., of Bennington, 
was Postmaster General.— (Thompson's Vermont.) By a church record of 1780, of 
Bennington church, a council was called, and a messenger appointed to go in 
person and carry the letters missive. The messengers of the Westfield council 
must have gone in person with the letters missive to the invited Connecticut 
churches. 



36 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

both of the church at Westfleld, and the church at Nine Part- 
ners. ^ 

" Second, the request of the church at Bennington to the church ' 
at Westfield, namelj^ that the church at Bennington and the 
church at Westfield unite and become one church under Mr. Jed- 
idiah Dewey, pastor of the church at Westfleld; and, in consider- 
ation of the circumstances of both churches, the council thought 
advisable for the church at Westfleld to answer the above said re- 
quest, which they did by solemn conveuauting according to the 
above proposal. 

"1. The church at Westfleld consented to join with the church 
at Bennington by solemn vote ; 2. The church at Bennington did 
the same by vote; 3. Both together signified their consent to be- 
come one church under the pastoral care and charge of said Jedi- 
diah Dewey, pastor, with uplifted hands before God. 

John Palmer. 

Israel Hawley. 

Jonathan Underwood. 

Stephen Eemington." 

The following further minute touching these proceed- 
ings is on the Bennington records : — 

"September 12, 1763. —The church of Christ, in Bennington, 
being legally Avarued, met together; and, after prayers, the com- 
mittee which was sent to Westfleld made their return with their 
doings ; and the church unanimously voted their concurrence with 
the above said council, and the doings of the above said council, 
with uplifted hands." 

III. Early Growth of the Church. — The Ben- 
nington church was now fairly on its way. The Sunder- 
land brethren, the Hardwick brethren, the Westfield 
brethren, and those here from Amherst, Mass., Newint, 
Conn., and other parishes, — who in those parishes respec- 
tively felt feeble and doubtful, and here also in the infancy 

1 A family tradition has Mr. Dewey preaching to the church at Nine Part- 
ners temporarDy at this time. 



ENLARGEMENT OF THE CHURCR. 37 

of the settlement and the embiyo state of its institutions 
had but just made a beginning — were now united to- 
gether in one church, in the land of their choice and where 
many of them expected to pass the remainder of their 
days ; where the whole land was theirs, and the future in- 
vited them to labor and hardship, but with the prospect 
of enlargement and ample reward. They had obtained a 
minister in whom they had great confidence. At once we 
see in the brief and imperfect church records new life- 
startings. In the same month, September, 1763, after the 
ratification at Bennington of the doings of the council at 
Westfield, we find a record of the return to full agreement 
and fellowship with the church of a brother who had been 
under discipline. He had departed from his profession 
of faith and covenant with the church " by denying its 
article of baptism and rejecting his own infant baptism ; " 
but he now returned, having surrendered his objections, — 
or his objections having surrendered him, — and this breach 
in the fellowship of the church was healed. 

In the next month, " October 2, then Abraham Newton was re- 
ceived into full fellowship or communion with this church; and 
also the wife of Beuajah Rude, from the church at Newiut, was 
received into this church." 

Thus onward. Successive entries in the records, at short 
intervals, inform us that the church grew ; there being fre- 
quent and ofttimes numerous additions to it. Take one 
page of the records as an example : — 

"Jan. 3, 1765. — Then Ebenezer Wood, Timothy Pratt, Mary- 
Story, wife to Stephen Story, and Margaret Harwood, wife to 
Peter Harwood, were all received to full communion with this 
church." "Jan. 11, 1^65. — Then John Smith, Matthew Scott, 
Thomas Henderson, Esther Pratt, wife to Samuel Pratt, and IMary 
Fassett, wife to John Fassett, were all received to full com- 
munion with this church." "March 3, 1765. —Then Peter Har- 
4 



38 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

wood was received to full commuuion with this church." " April 
4, 1765. — Then Eebecca Eobinson, nvife to Leonard Eobinson, 
Hanuah Abbott, Bershaba Scott, wife to Oliver Scott, Joseph 
Ricliardson, Hepzibah Wood, Marcy Robinson, and Timothy 
Abbott were all received into full communion with this church." 

There are preserved upon the records, imperfect as they 
must be, the names of seventy-two individuals added to 
the church during the ministry of Mr. Dewey. Of these, 
nearly half, thirty-six, were received in 1765. That must 
have been, therefore, a year of religious revival and great 
spiritual prosperit^^ This was the fourth year or there- 
about of the settlement of the town. 

From lists extant there appear to have been b^' June, 
1765, about one hundred men in the town. About fifty men, 
according to the records, became connected with the church. 
The condition of the community at this time is thus stated 
in the " Vermont Historical Magazine " : — 

" By the year 17G5 a large portion of the town had become oc- 
cupied by industrious settlers from Massachusetts and Connecti- 
cut, who had cleared much of the land, erected dwelling-houses 
and barns, with mills, opened and worked highways, and estab- 
lished schools for the instruction of children and youth, and 
were living in a comfortable and thriving condition." 

Bancroft, in his "History of the United States," referring 
to a letter of Gov. Hutchinson to Gov. Pownal of July 10, 
1765, speaks of Bennington thus : — 

"Men of New England of a superior sort, etc., etc., had 
formed already a community of sixty-seven families, in as many 
houses, with an ordained minister; had elected their own munic- 
ipal officers; formed three several public schools; set their 
meeting-house among their primeval forests of beech and maple ; 
and, in a word, enjoyed the flourishing state which springs from 
rural industry, intelligence, and unaflected piety." ' 

1 Quoted in Vermont Hist. Mag. 



THE OLD CRURCH COVENANT. 39 

The Rev. Mr. Avery, successor to Mr. Dewey, in refer- 
ring to the time of his pastorate generally, says : — 

" There have beeu seasons of especial awakening and attention 
here, and in the judgment of charity a happy number have been 
renewed and added to the Lord. This circumstance has con- 
tributed not a little to the gaining them respect, and even fame 
abroad as a religious people." 

In the year 1765 the controversy of the inhabitants with 
New York about their land titles began to be a matter of 
public concern ; this would naturally interrupt and prevent 
for a long time to come special attention to religion. 

IV. Roll of the Church for its First Century. — 
With regard to the roll of the church for the first century, 
it must be stated that, it is far from complete. A covenant 
has been found among some papers thrown into the street, 
which would seem to have been adopted and signed at or 
near the time of the first formation of the church. This 
paper doubtless got among the condemned pile entirely by 
mistake. So soon as it was discovered it was preserved 
with religious care. It is interesting and comprehensive, 
but too long to be inserted here. A portion of the docu- 
ment, as found, had been torn off and lost ; perhaps one- 
third of the signatures were on this lost portion. Not all 
the names on the part of the covenant preserved were on 
the church records, so much of them as has been preserved. 
The same may be true of that portion of the sheet which 
had been lost. The names on that lost portion of this 
covenant may not have been placed elsewhere on any 
church record ; and the fact, whether they were members 
of the church or not, it may now be impossible to ascer- 
tain. There are names, on the records of the Newint 
Separate Church, of persons known to have been resident 



40 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

here and yet not on the Bennington church records. Such 
persons, at least some of them, were in all probability 
members of the Bennington church, but because their 
names were on that part of the covenant torn off and lost, 
or for some other reason, they have never been put upon 
any record of the church. John Burnham, who was with 
the autumn immigration of families in the first half year 
of the settlement of the town, and on the committee 
appointed at the first proprietors' meeting to choose a place 
to set the meeting-house, and who was in the militar}^ com- 
pany of Captain John Fassett in 1764, has his name 
among the Newint church signatures, but not on the 
Bennington church records. During the whole of the Rev. 
Mr. Marsh's ministry, a period of about fifteen years, no 
records were kept, so far as is now known, excepting 
some letters of dismission and recommendation of individ- 
uals kept on file, and some names of persons received to 
the membership of this church, jotted down here and there 
upon detached pieces of paper. All the names thus 
accessible have been gathered up, and arranged in order in 
a book. Every document that could yield any assistance 
has been laid hold of with incredible patience and zeal by 
Mr. Haswell, late clerk of the church, and so far as was 
thus possible the omissions in the records have been sup- 
plied. In this way many names are preserved which 
would otherwise have been lost. 

The roll of members thus gathered yields the follow- 
ing analysis of statistics for the first century of the 
church : — 

Number of members at the organization of the church, 
including five members added on that day ... 57 



TABLE OF ADDITIONS FOR THE CENTURY. 



41 



Admitted during the pastorate of the Eev. J. Dewey : — 



1763 




. . 2 


1768 




1764 




. . 4 


1773 




1765 




. . 36 


1774 




1766 




. . 4 


1775 




1767 




. . 5 
Total . 


1776 


72 


Without 


a pastor 


: — 






1779 


• • • 


. . 1 

Total . 


1780 


8 


Pastorate of the Eev. David Avery : 


— 


1782 











Without a pastor, — Messrs. Burton and Wood preach- 
ing temporarily : — 



1784 
1785 



40 
4 



1786 



Total 



47 



Pastorate of the Rev. Job Swift, D.D. : — 



1786 . . . 


. . 5 


1790 . . . 


. . 8 


1787 . . . 


. . 4 


1792 . . . 


. . 2 


1789 . . . 


. . 9 


1795 . . . 


. . 2 



Total 



30 



Without a pastor, — The Rev. Messrs. Davis and 
Spaulding preaching temporarily : — 
1803 93 



Pastorate of the Rev. Daniel Marsh 



1811 
1812 
1813 
1816 



38 


1817 


1 


1818 


1 


1819 


7 





22 
1 
7 



Total 



77 



4* 



42 



MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 



Pastorate of the Rev. Absalom Peters, D.D. : — 

1820 33 1823 . . . . 

1821 13 1824 . . . . 

1822 10 1825 . . . . 

Total .... 71 
Pastorate of the Rev. Daniel A. Clark : — 

1826 5 1 1829 . . . . 

1827 101 1830 . . . . 

1828 3 1 

Total .... 126 
Pastorate of the Rev. E. W. Hooker, D.D. : — 

1832 18 1838 . . . . 

1833 14 1839 . . . . 

1834 90 1840 . . . . 

1835 5 1841 . . . . 

1836 7 1843 . . . . 

1837 2 1844 . . . . 

Total . . . .174 
Pastorate of the Rev. J. J. Abbott : — 

1845 1 I 1846 . . . . 

Total .... 4 
Pastorate of the Rev. R. C. Hand : — 

1848 5 1851 . . . . 

1849 6 1852 . . . . 

1850 10 

Total .... 41 
Pastorate of the Rev. Isaac Jennings : — 

1853 .... 

1854 .... 

1855 . . . ■. 

1856 .... 

1857 .... 

Total . . . .142 



11 


1858 


12 


1859 


17 


1860 


7 


1861 


50 


1862 



6 
11 



2 

7 

8 

5 

14 

2 



10 
10 



31 
1 
3 

2 



TABLE OF OFFICE US. 



43 



V. Officers during the First Century. 



Jedidiah Dewey — became pastor of the Bennington 
church by the action of the Westfield. Council, August 14, 
1763 ; deceased December 21, 1778, 

David Avery — was installed May 3, 1780; dismissed 
June 17, 1783. 

Job Swift, D.D. — was installed May 31, 1786; dis- 
missed June 7, 1801. 

Daniel Marsh. — By town records, Society recommended 
" the committee to hire Mr. Marsh for the year ensuing," 
at a meeting on March 27, 1805 ; also at a meeting May 
12, 1806, requested the church "to unite with Mr. Marsh 
in calling a council for his installation." He was dis- 
missed April 25, 1820. 

Daniel A. Clark — was installed June 13, 1826 ; dis- 
missed October 12, 1830. 

Edward W. Hooker, D.D. — was installed February 21, 
1832 ; dismissed May 14, 1844. 

J. J. Abbott — was installed April 26, 1845; dismissed 
August 17, 1847. 

Eichard C. Hand — was installed January 20, 1848 ; dis- 
missed November 26, 1852. 

Isaac Jennings — commenced his ministry here June 1, 
1853, and was installed September 21, 1853. 

DEACONS elected. 



Eleazer Ilarwood, 

Joseph Safford, 

Moses RobiDSOu, 

John Wood, 

Samuel Safford, 

Hezekiah Armstrong, Sept. 6, 1812, 

Calvin Bingham, July 16, 1813, 



June 9, 1768, 



• May 22, 1789, 



Resigned Dec. 14, 1770. 
Died iu 1775. 
Died May 19, 1813. 
R'rad to Malone, N.Y., 1810. 
Died March 13, 1813. 
Died March 4, 1816. 
Died Feb. 19, 1831. 



44 



MEMORIALS OF A CENTVRT. 



Jotliam French, 
Stephen Hinsclill, 

Erwin Safford, 

Noadiah Swift, 
Aaron Hubbell, 
Samuel Chandler, 
John F. Kobiuson, 
George Lyman, 
John W. Vail, 
H. H. Harwood, 



April 12, 1816, 
. May 10, 1822, 

Sept. 23, 1831, 
Dec. 15, 1834, 

5 Sept. 19, 1845. 
■ Feb. 14, 1862. 



Died April 30, 1825. 
Dismissed to Hinsdillville 

Pres. ch. Nov. 19, 1834. 
Eemoved to Phihidelphia, 

Pa., Sept., 1830. 
Died March 21, 1860. 
Died Dec. 26, 1844. 

Died Jan. 25, 1862. 



CLEKKS. 



John Fassett, Dec. 3, 1762. 
Jeremiah Bingham, Jan. 13, 1779, 
Jonathan Kobinson, Jan. 28,1785. 



Aaron Robinson, Jan. 24, 1820. 
Wm. Southworth, Dec. 12, 1846. 
Wm. Haswell, Sept. 28, 1849. 



There is no record of tlie appointment of deacons at the 
organization of the church. There were deacons on the 
ground already, — deacons of the other churches which had 
removed hither, and were merged in the Benni*igton church, 
and also other deacons. Upon the church records no dea- 
cons appear for the period 1775-1789 ; Eleazer Harwood 
had resigned in 1778 ; Joseph Safford died in 1775 ; the 
next election, according to the records, was in 1789 ; the 
probability is, that during this interval, 1775-1789, Joseph 
Bingham and Nathaniel Harmon were either acting dea- 
cons, or had been elected and the election not recorded. 
They both bore the title of deacon, and were members of 
the church, and resident here at that time, and both excel- 
lent men. Deacon Joseph Bingham died November 4, 
1787, in the seventj^-seventh j'ear of his age ; and Deacon 
Harmon, in November, 1792, aged eighty. 



VI. Interesting Memoranda. — Of the fourteen adult 
persons who settled Bennington, all with the exception of 



INTERESTING MEMORANDA. 45 

one, who died at an early age, were or became church 
members. The fourteen were: Bridget Harwood, Zacha- - 
riah Harwood, Eleazer and Elizabeth Harwood, Peter and 
Margaret Harwood ; Leonard and Rebecca Robinson, Sam- 
uel and Hannah Robinson ; Samuel and Baty Pratt, Timothy 
and Elizabeth Pratt. 

The other members of the pioneer company were eight 
children whose united ages were less than twenty-seven 
years. One of these, an infant child of Mrs. Hanuah Rob- 
inson, died ; of the other seven, two : Stephen Harwood, 
and Persis Robinson (Safford), united with this church; 
the other five married and removed from Bennington. Sam- 
uel Robinson, Sr., — who appears to have brought his family 
early in the first half year of the settlement, though not 
with the very first immigration of families, — had six sons 
and three daughters, all of whom became members of this 
church. Mrs. Bridget Harwood's four sons, who came to 
Bennington, became also, with herself, members of this 
church. 

Mrs. Bridget Harwood was the mother of nine children. 
At the time of her immigration to Bennington her husband 
had deceased ; also one child in infanc3\ As already no- 
ticed, Samuel Robinson, Sr., had nine children, who came 
to Bennington ; these composed his family, one child hav- 
ing died at eleven years of age. One, Samuel, Jr., with 
his family, preceded his father a little time in the order of 
removal hither ; his father, the real pioneer, being detained 
as to actual removal with his family, a little, b}^ important 
business. Deacon Joseph Safford, the father of eleven 
children, came with his family in the second company. In 
1837 — seventj'-six years afterward — a genealogical record 
of these three families (the Harwoods, the Robinsons, and 
the Saffords), and their descendants — including of course 
such persons as married any of the list — was published 



46 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

by Mrs. Sarah (Harwood) Eobinson, one of these descend- 
ants. Upon this genealogical record — the count being 
made with perhaps not absolute accuracy, but nearly so — 
there is found an aggregate of some two thousand one 
hundred and thirty-six individuals. 




CHAPTER IV. 

SEPARATISM. 

■'hen we learn by tbe records that the church in 
Bennington was formed by the nnion of the Sun- 
derland church and the Hardwick church, and 
that soon afterward the Bennington church ob- 
tained a pastor by taldng to itself the Westfield 
church and its pastor, we are curious to know if 
these churches of Sunderland and Hardwick and Westfield 
left no churches behind them. Upon inquiry we find that 
those towns, respectively, have, meantime, had churches 
bearing the same titles, which know nothing of any remo- 
val to Bennington. These churches date their origin far 
back of that of the Bennington church, and thej^ have never 
ceased to bear the designation that they now do, and to 
occupy the places that they now occupy. How is it, then, 
that we find upon our Bennington records mention of 
churches of the same name removing hither and being 
swallowed up in the Bennington church? The explanation 
is, that the churches which removed to Bennington were 
"Separate" churches, irregularly organized in the view 
of the churches then and there existing, and therefore by 
them never recognized as churches of Christ. Some mem- 
bers of the old church believed that it had departed from 
its original faith and order, and on that account refused to 
commune with it, and established a separate church. The 
original churches in several instances excommunicated those 
separating members, and in all cases, it is believed, refused 



48 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

to recognize the separate organization as a cliurch of Christ. 
A sad state of things, the reader will say, for a Christian 
comulunit3^ It could not have been otherwise than full of 
trials to all concerned. But, as we shall see, God overruled 
it for good. Let me adduce some portions of the records 
of the church still at Sunderland, the original church 
founded in 1718. The first introduction of the subject into 
these records appears to have been in a vote on March 3, 
1749 : — 

" Voted, That those persons who have separated themselves 
from this church, aud absented themselves from the public wor- 
ship and ordinauces among us, be desired and required to appear 
and attend upon a meeting of this church, that the church may 
have an opportunity to know from them the reasons of tlieir ab- 
senting themselves from them ; and also what doctrines they hold 
and advance." 

In compliance with this vote, a subsequent meeting was 
held according to due notice. Some of the Separates at- 
tended, and asked more time ; more time was given by 
adjourning the meeting. At this adjourned meeting a paper 
was read on behalf of some or all the separating members, 
giving their reasons for their course, which, as was to have 
been expected, were not satisfactory to the old church. 
Others separated, and their reasons, too, were demanded by 
more voting of the old church. Divers more meetings were 
held, with no favorable results toward bringing back the 
separating members. Under date of August 24, 1753, 
some four and a half years after the first proceedings, we 
find this record : — 

" Voted, The following declaration agreeable to the advice of the 
ueigliboring ministers, called in to discourse with persons sepa- 
rating, etc. : — 

" Whereas, have gone out from us, renouncing 

our communion, and thereby have made it manifest they do not 
belong to us ; aud we, having used many means to reclaim them, 



CAUSE OF THE SETTLEMENT OF BEXXIXGTOX. 49 

and waited long upon them, and they still persisting obstinately 
in their separation from us, we now declare : they are now cut oil' 
from all tlie privileges of this church, and are not to be esteemed 
members hereof, and that we have no further care of them as 
members of Christ's Visible Church." 

At the same meeting it was also, — 

" Voted, That we judge it to be unlawful and dangerous for per- 
sons to frequent, and make a practice of attending upon, and es- 
pecially to join in worship at, the meetings of the Separatists, and 
a just matter of ofl'euce to this church." " Which votes on the 
Lord's day following were read before the congregation ; and the 
pastor, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the great head of the 
church, publicly declared before the congregation, agreeably to 
the vote of the church, that all and every <5ue of the persons 
whose names are mentioned in said vote are cut ofl" from all 
privileges in this church, and are no more to be esteemed members 
of Christ's visible church — praying that the proceedings of the 
church may be, ' for the destruction of the flesh in them, that the 
spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.' " ' 

Fifteen persons are named in the above vote of excom- 
munication, four of whom appear upon tlie roll of the Ben- 
nington church. 

INIany of the old churches did not proceed to equal ex- 
tremities. The church in Hardwick did not.^ The church 
in Westfield did not, in the case of Mr. Dewey. But even 
without the additional hardships of excommunication, 
this process of separation must have been attended by 
many painful circumstances both to the old church and 
the separating members. 

These ecclesiastical troubles were a principal cause, with- 
out which the early settlevs of Bennington would not have 

1 The original Suuderland church records were destroyed, but the churcli ap- 
pointed Deacon John Montague, a man of extraordinary memory, who liad pre- 
viously kept the records, to restore them. The above extracts are from tlie re- 
stored records. 

- The Kev. Mr. Paige's Ceuteunial Discourse. 
5 



50 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

come hither in the numbers and at the time they did, — as 
religious troubles were the principal cause of the Pilgrims 
coming from the Old World to the New, in the first settle- 
ment of New England. In saj'ing this, it is at the same 
time not intended to ignore the interest of secular adven- 
ture encouraged by the prospect of fertile lands, the exten- 
sive possession of which in fee-simple might be obtained 
at a trifling pecuniary cost. 

This Separate movement attained vast proportions in 
the country. It excited a profound concern at the time, 
and has been studied with deep interest by the ecclesias- 
tical . historian. There is space here for only a glance 
at it. It was a vital part of the Great Awakening of a 
century and a quarter ago. There had obtained in the 
churches a vast amount of formality. The " half-way 
covenant" had been extensively adopted by them. At 
length the numbers became formidable of those who viewed 
this innovation as a fatal departure from sound doctrine 
and true Christian order. Many were ready to welcome 
Whitfield, with his unwonted power in the pulpit as a 
revivalist and reformer of the churches, and many more 
were awakened b}' him and led to enlist with great zeal in 
the cause of religious reformation. Edwards irresistibly 
assailed the formality and laxness of church usage with 
strong doctrine and ponderous arguments from the Word 
of God. 

Manj' extravagances, the natural result, under the cir- 
cumstances, of so profound a religious excitement, came 
into vogue. James Davenport sought to imitate Whitfield, 
and then to go beyond him, and did surpass him, in intem- 
perate zeal, much more than he surpassed moderate men. 
Many staid churches and many staid ministers opposed the 
revival movement as a whole. The churches were divided 
into two antagonistic parties, one for new measures, the 



" 0£D lights'' AXD "■ NEW LIGHTS." 51 

other against tbem, — the "New Lights" and the " Okl 
Lights." The question came up whether it was right for 
these " New-Liglit" preachers to be abroad, in other minis- 
ters' parishes, stirring up so much excitement, and being 
the occasion of discord. It became the practice to perform 
itinerant labors on the part of the more earnest pastors. 
These did not confine their efforts to their own parishes, 
but " went everj^where preaching the word." Also lay-ex- 
horters were by the friends of the innovation encouraged, — 
persons vfith gifts and zeal, but without liberal education 
and witliout regular ecclesiastical license. 

In Connecticut these disorders, so termed, were made 
the subject of a prohibitory statute, enacted in 1742 by tlie 
General Assembly of the Colony of Connecticut, — not 
without the consent and approval of some of tlie clergy. 
By this statute ministers were forbidden to preach in any 
parish other than their own, without invitation of the pastor 
or people, under the penalty of forfeiting all title to the 
benefit of the laws for the support of the ministry. And it 
was provided that a regular information against any minis- 
ter to this effect should, without trial of the fact, work such 
a forfeiture, and bar the collection of rates for his support. 
By another section of the act, all exhorters were forbidden 
to exercise their gifts, unless permitted by the parish au- 
thorities ; aiKl all strangers, of whatever ecclesiastical dig- 
nity from out of the colony (of Connecticut) , presuming to 
teach, preach, and publicly exhort without such permission 
of pastor or parish, were to be sent as vagrants from con- 
stable to constable out of the bounds of Connecticut.^ 

The " New-Light" minorities in the churches would not 
endure this. They maintained their right to hear such 
preachers and worship God in such a manner as they 
deemed to be most in accordance with the w^ord of God, 

1 Article of the Rev. R. C. Learned iu tlie "New Euglander" for May, 1S33. 



52 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

and they did this the more earnestly because they believed 
themselves alone to adhere to the genuine principles and 
order of the original New England churches. The number 
of Separate churches increased rapidly under this treat- 
ment. A general meeting of the " New Lights " was called 
at Stonington, Conn., in 1754; elders and brethren from 
forty churches met there, namely ; twenty-four in Con- 
necticut, eight in Massachusetts, seven in Rhode Island, 
and one in Long Island. ^ 

It was not long before another enactment was adopted 
b}^ the General Assemblj^ of Connecticut, which added 
much to the burdens and embarrassments of the " New- 
Light " party. There had been a law that all Avho soberly 
dissented from the prevailing order might, upon taking 
certain oaths, be allowed to establish separate worship un- 
molested ; though still liable to be taxed for the support of 
the parish minister. This law was repealed. Thus the 
worship in the original society came to be still more odi- 
ously known as the Established worship, or tlie worship of 
the Standing Order.^ The Separates came at length to call 
themselves " Strict Congregationalists." 

In this notice of persecuting laws those of Connecticut 
have been adduced. In Massachusetts the case was dif- 
ferent. There no laws were specially enacted against 
Separate itinerant preachers and lay exhorters, but the 
existing laws did not exempt Separates from paying taxes 
to the parish minister and for building and repairing parish 
meeting-houses. Neither did the Massachusetts laws give 
to Separate congregations any legal power to collect taxes 
or subscriptions for their own expenses. 

Moreover, while it is true that many of the members of 

1 Backus' History. See, also, Contributions to the Ecclesiastical History of 
Connecticut. 

2 Mr. Leurned's article. 



SEPARATISTS IN CONXECTICUT. 53 

tlie Bennington church, perhaps most, came, in its incipient 
histoiy, from Massaclmsetts, its ecclesiastical affinities ap- 
pear to have especially identified it with the Connecticut 
Separate churches and ministers. "Father" Marshall, 
who used to pass this way frequently, and appears to have 
felt quite at home here, was pastor of the first Separate 
church that was formed, that in Canterbur}'-, Conn. The 
Rev. John Palmer, who was repeatedly on ecclesiastical 
councils in this town, Avas pastor of one of the Separate 
churches in Connecticut, that of Scotland parish, in Wind- 
sor township. He was member of the council that was con- 
vened, 1.13' letters-missive from this church, in Westfield, to 
consider and act upon the question of the union of that 
church with the Bennington church. He was member of 
the council called here in 1770 to give advice in the diflS- 
cult}^ about the dut}' of communicating for the support of 
the gospel. He was here also either as member of a council 
or informally to advise in the difficulties concerning Mr. 
Avery. He was a worthy and excellent. Christian minister. 
He officiated to the Separate church in Scotland parish, 
doubtless with acceptance, through the long period of fifty- 
seven 3'ears, — 1 750 to 1807, — when he deceased. Universally 
spoken of as a man of real piety, he was imprisoned under 
the Connecticut laws before mentioned four months in Hart- 
ford for preaching. Tiie other Separate churches called to 
sit in the Westfield council, and their pastors, belonged to 
Connecticut : Plainfield, Alexander Miller, minister ; and 
Suffield, Israel Holle}', minister. 

A large part of the First Church in Norwich, Conn., 
drew off from its minister and met for worship in another 
place.i Thirty male members, including one deacon and 
a large number of females, left the Old Standing Order 
Church at about the same time. Others soon followed. 

1 Backus. 

5* 



54 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

Among these were some of the most wealthy- and influential 
men in the town. The Separates and their friends finally 
outvoted the old chnrch in the town meetings, and declared 
that the}' would no longer pay the minister's rates, as they 
were conscientiously opposed to the union of church and 
state. But upon a complaint entered, the General Assem- 
bly interfered, and they were taxed, by a special act, to 
support the Rev. Dr. Lord and his society. Refusing to 
pay the tax, they were imprisoned. For this cause as man}'' 
as forty persons, men and women, were imprisoned in a 
single year.i Many of the early settlers of Bennington 
were from Norwich and its vicinity. The Newint Sepa- 
rate Church, so prominently represented in Bennington, 
belonged to a part of the town of Norwich of that da3\ 

Deacon Joseph Safford and some others among the earli- 
est members of this church belonged to a Separate church 
in Newint, Conn., and brought, if not the church, at least 
the records of it, with them to this town. 

1 Historical Notices by {he Rev. F. Denison, quoted in a foot-note by Hovey. 
Life and Times of Backus, p. 42. 




CHAPTER V. 

INTERNAL PERPLEXITIES OF THE CHURCH. 

:iNANCIAL CONTROVERSY. — The first great 
trial of the church, and perhaps the greatest of an 
internal character, was occasioned by the ques- 
tion, — how to pay the minister? 

The Bennington church, as a church, never took 
any x>osition identical with Separate churches more 
extreme than the actual reformation which loas finally ac- 
cepted by the great body of the Congregational churches of the 
country. In this it evinced the shrewd indomitable com- 
mon sense of its leading minds. There were, however, 
individual members of the church, who, upon some points 
at least, were extreme, even factious, relativel}'^ to the Ben- 
nington church. They were not without serious influence 
in the church, and yet they appear to have been always 
in a minority when it came to voting. They had the more 
influence on one point in particular, that of a church 
member's duty with respect to the pecuniaiy necessities 
of public worship, because the Separate theory on this 
point was susceptible of a pretty sharp definition. It 
may be stated in the words of the Separate Ecclesiastical 
Council convened here in 1770, on this subject : — 

" The Society is by no means to be allowed to control or govei'n 
the church in the aflfair." 

At the same time there was in the Bennington church 
that common sense or practical — or worldly — wisdom 



56 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

which saw that in the secularities of public worship the 
•world would certainly have a hand, and which reasoned 
that there might be so much jealousy of bringing the church 
under bondage to the world, as to fail to obtain all that 
lawfully might be of co-operation both of the world's peo- 
ple and of the civil law. 

But the extreme Separates had on their side the moral 
weight of the fact that the Bennington church was formed 
out of bona fide Separate churches ; that many had joined 
its ranks from other churches of the same character ; tliat 
its pastor was thoroughly of Separate origin, — its ecclesi- 
astical councils were made up from Separate churches, and 
the council of 1770 rather sided with the extreme members 
than with the church. At any rate they were unceasingly 
active, and in several instances inflexible to the last. 

That which appears to have brought the opposing par- 
ties to a decisive struggle was the action of an adjourned 
meeting of the congregation, Feb. 8, 17G8. At this meet- 
ing the following resolves were voted : — 

1. That the church and society should stand all in an equal right 
about proposing- any method, or voting iu any meeting about the 
support of the gospel for the present year. 2. Chose Moses 
Kobiuson clerk for the same meeting and for this year. 3. Chose 
Stephen Fay, Samuel Saflbrd, and Moses Robinson assessors. 
4. Chose Stephen Fay treasurer. 5. Chose James Walbridge and 
Henry Walbridge collectors ; then made a subscription binding iu 
common law in order to secure to Mr. Dewey fifty pounds for the 
present year." 

This, it will be observed, was a meeting, not of the church, 
but of the congregation, but church members acted in it 
and v/ith it ; three out of five appointed to office in the 
me3i:ng were church members. This course of members of 
the churches was not sulfered by the extreme Separates to 
pr.ss unchallenged. Against these members of the church 



A LONG CnURCH CONTROVERSY. 57 

active in this meeting a, complaint was soon bronght in 
cliurcli meeting, and tlie attempt was made to convict them 
of violating the principles of the Separate churches, with re- 
spect to their independence of the Society' and of the civil 
power. 1 

Had the complaining party been above suspicion of sin- 
ister intent their case would have stood better. It was the 
I'efusal of some of these, and perhaps of some others, to 
pay their share toward the minister's salary, which was the 
proximate cause of the action complained of. The salary 
was not secured ; and hence the effort in the adjourned 
meeting of the congregation to hit upon some expedient 
that should accomplish this result. Most if not all of the 
brethren who complained so bitterly of that action were 
themselves remiss. Their remissness dates far back upon 
the records, as appears by the following entry : — 

"June 19, 1766. — Then the church being met by appointmeut 
acted on the following articles, namely, 1. To send brothers 
James Breakenridge, Henry Walbridge, and John Wood to those 
brethren that did not attend the church meeting, and had not 
settled or paid their proportion or sums for the year past with Mr. 
Dewey, that they forthwith settle the above said sum or sums; 
and that they appear on Friday the twenty-sixth day of this in- 
stant at the adjourned meeting at the house of Mr. Dewey to an- 
swer to their conduct. 2. Voted, tliat those persons who do not 
settle and pay the sums of their equality with Mr. Dewey for his 
support within the time appointed by the church and society forth- 
with give security for the above said siuns, and it shall be no 
oflence." 

Here we have the party of the first part aggrieved because 
the party of the second part would not do their share to- 

1 The probability is that the error of these comphiiniug brethren was not in 
their professed anxiety lest tlie church should lose its proper control in spiritual 
affairs, so much as in their want of discrimination as to what was purely secular 
in the matter, and therefore not to be a bone of contention in the church. 



58 MEMORIALS OF A CENTUnY. 

ward the salary of Mr. Dewey; and the party of the second 
part ao-grieved becanse the party of the first part had 
secured the adoption of church and society measures, and 
some aid, if necessary, of the civil law, to relieve the finan- 
cial difficulties of the parish. The result was a long church 
controvers3^ 

It is believed by some of Mr. Dewej^'s descendants that 
he, in consideration of the valuable property called " the 
minister's right" being settled upon him, declined, for a 
while at least, other compensation ; they have a tradition in 
the family to this effect. If so, Mr. Dewey could not have 
begun to receive any compensation from the church and 
society until near the time of the above vote. To suppose 
that brethren would refuse to pa}'^ their part toward the 
small amount then proposed to be raised as a salary for 
Mr. Dewey, and at the first attempt, or nearly the first at- 
tempt, reflects seriously upon their goodness of character. 
Whether they were afflicted with the malady not unknown 
to mankind, a chronic disinclination to part with one's 
money for a public good object, or whether they deemed it 
a violation of their consciences to contribute anything to 
the treasury of the church so long as it adopted financial 
expedients inconsistent with their notions of Christian 
duty ; or whether their course was the result of both these 
causes combined, there grew up an irreconcilable difficulty 
between the church and these brethren. The leaders among 
them were under church censure from time to time, and 
finally were excommunicated. For a long time, however, 
they remained in the church, as it knew to its cost. New 
complaints were brought ; new grievances there were ; new 
offences for church action. All their church meetings, and 
all their debates as to what was according to their principles 
of freedom of conscience, and the church's true indepen- 
dence of and separation from the world, availed nothing to 



A LOXG CHURCH CONTMOVEHSY. 59 

settle the clifflcult}^, or to remove the main difflciilty of 
the delinquency of these brethren toward the salary. 
Among otfher entries upon the records of a like character, 
let us notice one under date of August, 17, 1769 : — 

" The church beiug met hy adjourmneut, and the meethig being 
opened by prayer, took into consideration the case of those breth- 
ren who are behind in their communication to the support of the 
gospel, aud voted that if they shall pay thirteen shillings to fifteen 
it shall be satisfactory." 

It Avould seem that the delinquent brethren did not all 
of them now pay the " thirteen shillings to fifteen," for 
there are recorded actions of discipline in their case under 
subsequent dates. 

Glimpses in the records show us that the sacrament of 
the Lord's supper was not administered for some time on 
account of the progress of this war in the church. Infant 
baptisms, however, were not omitted, whatever the state of 
the church might be, whether cold or lukewarm or divided. 
Some stayed away from public worship because of griev- 
ances. 

At length a council of churches was called, 1770. Its 
result is on the records. On the whole it appears rather to 
condemn the church for calling to its aid the societ}' as 
prominently as it did, according to the action of the ad- 
journed meeting of the congregation on Feb. 8, 1768. It 
was a council of Separate churches. Apparently no good 
effect followed. Matters waxed worse and worse. One and 
another became the subject of church discipline. Thus they 
went on until January, 1780, fourteen years after the first 
appearance of this difficulty upon the records. Then we 
find this hopeful indication : — 

" The church being met by appointment, the meeting being 
opened by prayer, took ixto consideration the circumstance of 



60 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

THE COVENANT BEING VERY MUCH SHATTERED AND TORN. VOTED, 
TO SIGN THE COVENANT NEWLY DRAFTED AND TO RENEW COVE- 
NANT WITH God and with one another." This return to the 
solemu renewal of covenant obligatiun, and to the enjo}'ment of 
the presence of the Holy Spirit, must have been a relief as de- 
lightful as it was salutary. 

The old covenant so "much shattered and torn" was 
probably the one among the papers of the church on file ; 
that newly drafted and signed, the paper in the possession 
of John Ffxy. 

AVith regard to the ultimate result as to tlie method of 
securing the salar}', it may be stated that no invariable 
rule was attained. Society meetings and town meetings for 
some years played an important part in this business. The 
extreme Separatist method was never adopted. The more 
usual way Avas, to obtain as many as would consent to 
bring in their tax lists, and let the society or town rate 
upon them a tax sufficient for the salary and other expenses 
of public worship. Those who voluntaril}^ brought in their 
lists to be taxed were liable to have their tax collected by 
law if they neglected to pay it at the right time. Church 
discipline upon members delinquent in this matter fell into 
disuse ; so it is inferred from the fact that cases of disci- 
pline of this kind do not afterward appear upon the records. 
This financial question came up again on the building of 
tlie new meeting-house, and created again a profound ex- 
citement. 

II. Case of the Rev. David Aveky. — There were 
also troublous times to this church in connection with the 
ministry of the Rev. David Avery. This difliculty followed 
fast upon the heels of the other ; and it is quite possible 
some of the disturbing influence of the old trouble re- 
mained. The settlement of Mr. Avery here was com- 



CASE OF REV. DAVID AVERT. 61 

menced with a foreshadowed opposition, which increased 
until the termination of his ministry, June 17, 1783. One 
person only was added to the church ; the Lord's supper 
was celebrated once only, and that not without opposition 
on the alleged singular ground of the impropriety of the 
measure because of the divided state of the church. 

A pamphlet of fift^'-five pages is extant, with this title : 
" A Narrative of the Rise and Progress of the Difficulties 
which have issued in a separation between the Minister and 
People of Bennington, 1783. With a Valedictor}^ Address 
by the Rev. David Aver}^ V. D. M." He was evidently a 
man of superior talents and accomplishments. Governor 
Tichenor — who was proverbial for his graceful politeness, 
so much so that, having come from New Jersey, he obtained 
the not very graceful sobriquet of "The Jersey Slick" 
— used to say that the opposition sent Mr. Aver}^ awa^' be- 
cause he walked to church arm in arm with his wife. There 
is some reason to think, however, that with all his acquire- 
ments he lacked humilit}', and, therefore, was less fitted 
than otherwise he might have been to build uj) and unite 
the people. In his communication to them respecting his 
dismission he exalts his official prerogatives, la3^s all the 
blame upon the opposition, loftily pities their weaknesses, 
and rebukes their wrong-doing, inasmuch as they receive 
the word at his lips with no more meekness ; and, which is 
most galling of all, derides their Separate origin. 

As a ceremony of installation, Mr. Avery adopted the 
novel method of pronouncing, in the presence of the coun- 
cil, an address, first, to the church, and then to the congre- 
gation, solemnly declaring his acceptance of the pastorate 
in accordance with their request. In the address to the 
church occurs this paragraph : — 

"luasniucli as I have been duly ordained an officer in Christ's 
kingdom by the hiyiug on of the hands of the Presbytery, whereby 
6 



62 MEMOIilALS OF A CENTURY. 

I am invested with full power and authority to administer sealing 
ordinances, and to do all the duties of a minister in God's house ; 
and inasmuch as I can receive no new, nor even any accession of, 
power, by a re-ordination, I do now, without some of the usual 
ceremonies of an ordination, thus publicly acknowledge myself to 
be under the most sacred vows to exercise my office, and to do all 
the duties of the pastor of this church," etc. 

The "re-ordination" refers to the doctrine which had 
some currency among the radical Separates that ordination 
by the laj'ing on of the hands of the Presbytery was a vio- 
lation of the power of the brotherhood, and therefore it was 
their duty to require one who had been presbyterially or- 
dained, and who had come to be their pastor, to be re-or- 
dained by the la3ing on of the hands of the lay-members 
of the church. The Bennington church, as such, never 
received this doctrine ; but from Mr. Avery's narrative it 
appears that, in the course of the difficulties with him, this 
was seriously pressed by some of the members. 

A mutual council, half of Strict Cougregationalists and 
half of Standing Order Cougregationalists, was first called 
upon the difficulties. The Strict Congregational half failed 
to come, and the council did not proceed. Next, an ex- 
parte council of Strict Cougregationalists was called, and 
failed to come. At length, a mutual council of Strict Con- 
gregationalists was called, and came. In this council the 
aggrieved portion of the church appeared as plaintitf, and 
the church itself as defendant, on the side of Mr. Aver}'. 
The chief burden of the complaint was alleged departure 
from the faith by Mr. Aver}- in his preaching, three specifi- 
cations being presented. The council sustained Mr. Aver^^ 
and the church in every particular, — advising the church, 
however, to accept Mr. Avery's resignation if he should 
offer it ; which he immediately did. 

In his address of resignation, he says, " One half of this 



THE SLAVERY QUESTION. 63 

cbuvch are divided from me without any prospect of ray 
recovering them." This must have been meant in a numeri- 
cal sense ; a leading personal influence in the community 
sided with Mr. Averj'-, and had, or carried, the council 
with it. 

Among his more ardent admirers here were some of the 
most influential members of tlie church or congregation, — 
such men as Governor Moses Robinson, Hon. Isaac Tiche- 
nor, Dr. Jonas Faj'. 

When he Avas dismissed from Bennington and left the 
place, the troubles here on his account appear to have 
ceased. Soon afterward the church was again blessed 
with a revival of religion, in which numbers were added to 
its communion, of whom the names of forty-seven are 
upon the records. Its wounds were doubtless healed, and 
it was once more in the enjojanent of health and vigor. 

III. The Slavery Question. — Mr. Avery brought 
with his family to town a colored woman, and he insisted 
on his right to hold her as a slave. This was one of the 
serious objections urged against him, and which created 
much dissatisfaction in the church.^ But the persons dis- 
satisfied on this account appear to have been in the minor- 
ity. 

One who had been for several years an active and influen- 
tial member of the church, being frequently on important com- 
mittees, having his children baptized, etc., was placed under 
church discipline during the ministry of Mr. Avery : — 

" For withdrawing himself from its commuuion for its affirming 
the position that it would commune with a brother who might 
have a slave." 

Some five years afterward this brother was excommuni- 

1 Vermont Hist. Mag. 



64 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

cated for continuing in his refusul to walk with the church. 
Nothing of an immoral character appears to have been alleged 
against him ; he continued to be respected as an upriglit citi- 
zen. It is related that, after his excommunication, one of the 
members of the church, a carpenter, was emplo3'ed by him 
to do a day's work, who had scruples about eating with 
him, because he had been excomnumicated ; he, therefore, 
caused a table to be set very nicely in the parlor, and di- 
rected the brother to dine there by himself. 

That the slavery question was somewhat agitated about 
this time in this vicinity may be inferred from a case pre- 
served upon the town records of this town. It can be best 
given in the words of the record : — 

" Head-Quarters, Paulet, Nov. 28, 1777. 

" To whom it may coucern, kuow ye : whereas, Dinah Mattis, 
a negro woman, with Nancy, her child of two months old, was 
taken prisoner on Lake Champlain, with the British troops, some- 
where near Col. Gilliner's patent, the 12th day of inst. November, 
by a scout under my command, and, according to a resolve 
passed by the Honorable Continental Congress, that all prizes be- 
long to the captivators thereof, therefore, she and her child be- 
came the just property of the captivators thereof. I being con- 
sci-hentious that it is not right in the sight of God to keep slaves ; 
therefore obtaining leave of the detachment under my command, 
to give her and her child their fi'eedom ; I do therefore give the 
said Dinah Mattis, and Nancy her child, their freedom to pass and 
repass anywhere through the United States of America, with her 
behaving as becometh, and to trade and traffic for herself and child 
as though she were born free, without being molested by any per- 
son or person. In witness whereunto I have set my hand and 
subscribed my name. 

" (Signed) Ebenkzer Allen," 

' Capt. in Col. Herrich^s Reyimcnt of Green Motintain Boys.'' 

1 " M.TJor EbenezcT Allen was a captain in Col. Herrick's battalion of State 
Eangers, and distinguished himself in the Battle of Bennington." — See Bio- 
graphical Sketch in Hall's Early Hist., Vermont, p. C51. 




CHAPTER VI. 

THE CHURCH IN THE WORLD. 

)ITH the ecclesiastical life of the community there 
was also going on here in strong pulsations the 
secular life of a most energetic people. These 
men, a glimpse of whom we get from meagre but 
suggestive church records, shared in this secular 
life. It is impossible to form any just idea of the 
church's life, its trials, influence, and dangers, without 
understanding the secular history of the town. Church 
members had a large part in the establishment of a town, 
and then of a State, and meantime of a nation. I^ach 
several work crowded fast upon the heels of the other, or 
mingled one with the other. There was the wilderness to 
subdue, land titles to establish. There were legislatures 
to entertain, and their share of legislation to perform. They 
had highways and accommodations to keep up for the 
travelling public, on one of its then most important 
thoroughfares. 1 They had strong individuality ; each would 

1 " Settlements had also (as early as 1705) been made to the northward as far 
as Uanby, and extensive preparations were making for occupying other town- 
ships, as well as for extending the settlements in tliose already commenced, — 
the tillers of the hard New England soil then, as they have often been since, 
swarming for emigration to new and uncultivated lands." — Vt. Hist. Mag. 

Mr. Samuel Fay, five years of age the day of the Bennington battle, and who 
distinctly recollected occurrences of that day, with other reminiscences, stated 
to O. W. Robinson tlie following, of public houses, all in apparent successful 
operation; the Catamount Tavern, kept by his grandfather, Stephen Fay; the 
Dewey Tavern, now Walloomsac House, tlien kept by Capt. Elijah Dewey; the 
Herrick Tavern, kept by Col. Uerrick, now known as tlie Dimmick place; the 
Harmon Tavern, kept by Daniel Harmon now the old yellow buildin west of 
6* 



66 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

in a measure have his own wa}-, and 3'et they must endure 
one another and be mutually helpful, for they had many 
common labors, hardships, and dangers, and common in- 
terests, ambitions, and expectations. They must help each 
other to be strong, while sometimes, doubtless, they yielded 
to the temptation, in this or that private mutual competition, 
to put down each other. So they grew ; so their individual 
force of character was developed. 

As before said, man}- of those thus situated as to their 
secular and social life were members of the Bennington 
church, manj' were unwearied in Christian efforts, habitual 
in their attendance upon public ordinances, some — doubt- 
less at times a few — faithful to the Friday prayer-meeting. 
There were in particular two great public struggles in the 
history of the town, and which are no less prominent in the 
history of the State, and one of them of commanding im- 
portance in the history of the nation. I refer to the land- 
title controversy and to the Revolutionary War. The land- 
title controversy and the Bennington battle will have a 
place as separate topics. Let it suffice now to say, prom- 
inent was the part Bennington acted in the Revolution- 
ary War. Here was held the council of Allen, Warner, 
Easton, and others, in which the expedition to Ticonderoga, 
which resulted, under the intrepid leadership of Allen, in 
the surrender of that fortress, was planned. May, 1775, and 
a considerable portion of the Green Mountain boys who 
joined the expedition were from Bennington. Ethan Allen 
came to the New Hampshire Grants about the year 1769, 

Henry Baker's residence; the tavern kept by Zechariab Harwood, the late resi- 
dence of Perez Harwood, Sen., deceased; the State Arms House, kept by Jona- 
than Robinson ; the Brush Tavern, where now stands the residence of Samuel 
Jewett; the Billings Tavern, in whose stables he has seen one hundred horses 
at one time, — not an uncommon occurrence, — belonging to people emigrating 
from Connecticut and Massachusetts to the different parts of Vermont and New 
Hampshire; it now stands on the side hill west of the residence of Mr. Nichols, 
near the Bennington and Pownal line. 



REVOLUTIONARY WAR. 67 

and made his home in Bennington while within the territory, 
until he was taken prisoner at Montreal, Sept. 25, 1775. 
Col. Seth "Warner came to Bennington to reside in January, 
1765, and remained here until the summer of 1784. 

In the regiment of Green Mountain boys which was 
raised under the advice of the Continental Congress in the 
summer of 1775 for service in Canada, the town of Ben- 
nington was represented by Seth Warner, its lieutenant- 
colonel and commandant, Samuel Safford as major, "Wait 
Hopkins as captain, and John Fassett, Jr., as lieutenant, 
and by many others in different capacities. Among the 
important services rendered by this regiment was the de- 
cisive defeat of General Carleton at Longuiel, which pre- 
vented his furnishing relief to St. Johns and caused its im- 
mediate surrender, and also the abandonment of Montreal 
to the American forces under General Montgomery. ^ In 
the next summer, July 5, 1776, the Continental Congress 
was so well satisfied with the services in Canada of these 
men, that a resolution was passed to raise a continental 
regiment of regular troops from this territory. 

Of this regiment, which continued in service through the 
war, Seth "Warner, the colonel ; Samuel Safford, the lieu- 
tenant-colonel ; "Wait Hopkins, captain ; Joseph Safford, 
lieutenant ; Jacob Safford, ensign ; Benjamin Hopkins, 
adjutant, were from Bennington. In October of the same 
year, upon notice of an expected attack upon Ticonderoga, 
the militia of Bennington and neighboring to\fn[S turned 
out en masse and moved to its relief, and for their exploit 
were handsomel}' complimented by the commanding gen- 
eral, Horatio Gates. ^ 

At the time of the evacuation of Ticonderoga and Fort 

1 A brief manuscript letter of Mrs. Montgomery to a friend, alluding to the 
death of Gen. Montgomery, is preserved among the papers of Gen. David Rob- 
inson. 

- Vermont Hist. Mag. 



68 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

Mt. Independence, July 6, 1777, the convention for forming 
the constitution of the State was assembled at Windsor, 
but, on receiving the alarming news of the loss of these 
posts, they hastily adjourned, appointing a Council of Safety 
to administer the government until the meeting of the 
Legislature under the constitution. This Council of Safety 
met at Manchester July 15, and soon afterward adjourned 
to Bennington, where it continued in permanent session 
until after the close of the campaign by the surrender of 
Burgoyne in October following. The room which this body 
occupied during this trying period is still to be seen in the 
ancient tavern-house of Landlord Fay, with the words 
" Council room," cut in olden time on the mantel-piece.^ 

Throughout the war Bennington furnished the full share 
of men and supplies for carrying it on.^ Bennington was 
for some time a depot for public stores belonging to the 
United States. To obtain possession of these provisions 
and stores was the principal object of Burgoj'ne in sending 
his expedition to Bennington. 

The leading men in the toion were leacUny men in the re- 
ligious commtinity. The innholder at Avhose house the first 
town meeting was held, the moderator of the meeting, the 
town clerk then appointed, the first four of the selectmen, 
the town treasurer, the two constables and the two tithing- 
men, and indeed all but four of the officers appointed, were 
or became members of the church under Mr. Dewey. The 
first towi^meeting was held March 31, 1762, at the house 
of John Fassett, when the following officers were chosen : — 

" Siinmel Montague, moderator; Moses Kobiuson, town clerk; 
Samuel Montague, Samuel Scott, James Breakenridge, Benajah 
Eude, and Joseph Wickwire, selectmen; Deacon Joseph Saflbrd, 
town treasurer; Samuel Robinson, Jr., and John Smith, Jr., 

1 Vermont Hist. Mag. 

2 See journal of Council of Safety in " Vermont State Papers." 



STIRRING TIMES. 69 

constables ; Deacon Saflbi'd aud Elislia Field, titliing-meu ; Peter 
Harwood and John Smith, Jr., hay-wards; Samuel Atwood and 
Samuel Pratt, fence viewers; Timothy Pratt and Oliver Scott, 
deer-rifts." 

Of the first company of militia organized, October 24, 
1764, all the officers were or became members of the church 
under Mr. Dewe}'. 

Muster Boll of the First Company of Militia, etc. 

Officers : John Fassett, captain ; James Breakenridge, lieuten- 
ant ; Elisha Field, ensign. — Warrant Officers : Leonard Robinson, 
fli-st sergeant ; Samuel Saflbrd, second do. ; Ebeuezer Wood, third 
do. ; Henry Walbridge, fourth do. — Ranli and File : Benjamin 
Whipple, first corporal ; John Wood, second do. ; Samuel Pratt, 
third do.; Peter Harwood, fourth. 

Deacon Joseph Safford and Samuel Robinson, Esq., re- 
ceived from the proprietors' meeting aud fulfilled the con- 
tract to build the first grist-mill and to keep it in repair 
ten years, that in the east part of the town. Samuel Rob- 
inson, Esq., was the first Justice of the Peace under the 
province of New Hampshire, appointed to that office within 
the limits of the State. In the summer of 1764, Esquire 
Robinson, as magistrate, came into collision Avith the New 
York officers in a controversy about jurisdiction in Pownal, 
and was arrested and carried to Albany jail. 

In the time of Mr. Dewey's pastorate, though within two 
years of its close, the declaration of American Indepen- 
dence was adopted ; also that of the independence of the 
State ; also the State constitution, adopted in convention, 
and the officers elected and other necessarj' measures ex- 
ecuted by which Vermont became, in her own name, a 
sovereign and independent State. The time of Mr. Averj^'s 
pastorate here — the whole period from the decease of Mr. 
Dewe}', to the settlement of Mr. Swift — was filled up with 



70 MEMORIALS OF A CENTVIIY. 

as fnuch intense excitement of civil affairs as, perhaps, any 
other period of like extent in the history of the town. It 
is impossible duly to appreciate the church's position and 
career at such a time without understanding the contem- 
porary civil and military history of the town and of the 
State. It is evident the spirituality of the church must ' 
have been put to a severe test in the midst of such pro- 
found civil and social agitation, and so great and abound- 
ing worldly cares. 

But in such a community and at such a time religion did 
not struggle doubtfully to maintain its foothold. It 
struck its roots deep into the hard}^ soil. The tree still 
flourishes. I speak not now of the First Church alone, but 
of all branches of Christ's church in the town. The tree 
of religion, which was planted in this soil at the outset of 
the gathering of a community here, took deep root amid 
all the struggles, commotions, and rude first essayings of 
public enterprise and of individual will. It still flourishes, 
and the vigor thereof is genuine and enduring. ^ 



1 See, further onwnrd in the volume, dates and statistics of the other churches, 
down to Jan. 1, 1863. 




CHAPTER VII. 

REVIVALS. 

/^^yHE late Rev. Dr. Hawes, of Hartford, said of the 
|y\ church of which he was pastor (the church first 
organized in Connecticut) : — 

" This church has ever believed in revivals of religion, 
and owes all its prosperity to those oft-repeated visita- 
tions of mercy." ' 

The same remarli may be applied to this the first church 
organized within the limits of Vermont. The operations 
of the Spirit of God in revivals are, to some extent, matter 
of human study, and have some general laws which appear 
to be discernible b}^ human judgment ; but at the same 
time they involve the profoundest, as well as the most 
momentous, of all the special exertions of the divine power 
of God in the world. It has been the sacred privilege of 
this church in repeated instances, and in no common de- 
gree, to witness these remarkable displa3'^s of divine power 
in the hearts of men and the assemblies of God's people. 

Its Separate origin would warrant our ascribing to the 
Bennington church the approval of religious revivals. 
Samuel Robinson, Esq., was an attendant upon Whitfield's 
ministry wl)ile in London, and upon his decease was in- 
terred in the bur3dng-ground attached to "Whitfield's meet- 
ing-house. After Esquire Robinson's decease, Whitfield, 
being on one of his preaching tours in this country', sent 

1 Cout. Ecc. Hist., Couu., p. 90. 



72 MEMORIALS OF A CEXTURY. 

■word to Bennington that he was charged with messages 
from Mr. Robinson, but could come no nearer than Albanj\ 
Moses Robinson, his son, afterward governor, went to 
Albany to meet Mr. Whitfield, and hear him preach ; his 
mother accompanied him, riding upon a favorite mare. 

From the number, thirty-six, known to have been re- 
ceived into the church in 1765, there must have been a re- 
vival at that time. In 1784, while the church was without 
a pastor, and Messrs. Wood and Burton preached here tem- 
porarily, forty are known to have been received into the 
church, and that special awakening has received the name 
of the Wood and Burton Revival. 

I. The Revival op 1803. — Let us go back and en- 
deavor to recall somewhat of the revival of 1803. From 
June 7, 1801, to the fall of 1804, the church was without a 
pastor, and the state of religion and morals appears to 
have fallen surprisingly low. The reputation of the town 
for irreligion, both at home and abroad, must have become 
quite the reverse of what it previously had been. A Miss 
Eleanor Read was at that time teacher of a select school 
in the building, now occupied as a residence, first south of 
the old academy. She tauglit school in the upper story, 
a saddler's shop being upon the first floor. She enjo3'ed a 
high reputation as a teacher. In a letter to a friend, dated 
September 1, 1802, she says : — 

" My first beginning in this place was peculiarly trying. I had to 
endure sickness and trouble, such as I never experienced before. 
In the midst of greatness and grandeur, every face was new, and 
seemed marked with haughty ostentation. " 

At length, as she saj's, she summoned all her fortitude, 
and met with marked success. Miss Read was one of the 
converts in the revival, and she published a narrative and 



EDITORIAL ly THE " GAZETTE." 73 

letters. — (Press of Anthony Haswell). In one of these 
letters we have an account of a singular circumstance as 
the incipient occasion of her awakening, and also a glimpse 
of the religious and moral state of the community immedi- 
ately preceding the revival. She mentions a letter she 
had received from a minister of Chelsea, — 

" In which he observes that the degeneracy of Bennington was 
truly himentable; that their depravity, infidelity, and heaven-dar- 
ing wickedness had become a subject of lamentation to the friends 
of Ziou. " " He also observed that he thanked God I was with 
them to lead the dear young people in the ways of piety and vir- 
tue. This expression struck me very forcibly and led me to reflect 
on my unworthiness, and insutliciency to teach them that which 
I had reasons to fear I was myself unacquainted with. " 

Whether the strong language of the Chelsea minister was 
warranted or not, there was doubtless some occasion for it. 

The Indian, or Canadian, Gordon, was killed about this 
time (Aug. 8, 1802), and a notice of this affair in the " Ver- 
mont Gazette" of Aug. 16, gives us some glimpses of the 
state of society. Stephen Gordon was so injured by 
wounds received in an affray with two young men, named 
George Tibbets and George Whitney (on Sunday p. m.), as 
to die on Tuesday morning following, and on Wednesdaj^ 
his remains were interred and an affecting discourse was 
delivered to a crowded audience, from Psalm xix. 12, 13. 
The following is an extract from the notice referred to : — 

" Never was greater solemnity observable in Bennington on 
any former occasion than prevailed during the exercises ; at the 
close of which, Tibbets, one of the prisoners, in pathetic terms, 
warned the assembled audience, young and old, against the evil 
tendency of Sabbath-breaking, as exemplified in their unhappy 
situation. 

In reflecting upon late occurrences in our vicinity, the contem- 
plative mind necessarily looks for an appropriate cause, and exer- 
cises its faculties to discover a remedy. But a few days have 
7 



74 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

elapsed since the iuhabitaiits of Bennington could say that the 
crime of suicide and murder never existed among them. The 
scene is now dreadfully reversed. " 

The editorial recites a case of suicide which had recently 
occurred, then returns to the Whitney and Tibbets murder- 
ous affray, and proceeds thus : — 

"Fellow-citizens, there is a moral and a natural cause for these 
things, and in the opinion of considerable numbers the moral cause 
is the declension of religion; the natural cause, the prevalence of 
folly, and the introduction of frivolous amusements, gambling and 
intemperance. Fathers of families, parents, consider the conse- 
quence of permitting your sons to attend unlawful games, cards, 
dice, and billiards, even within the restrictions of the licensing law 
of the last Assembly of Vermont, which was imposed upon us under 
pretence of interdicting such practices. At such places as card 
tables and billiard tables animosities are frequently engendered, 
and the trifling emoluments to the individual owning the table 
accrue through the debasement of numbers and the ruin of some of 
its attendants. Mothers, consider the consequences to your 
daughters : in proportion as gambling and irregularity engage 
the mind of a man, female attractions and virtue lose their charms, 
and lewdness and inconstancy become less odious than formerly 
in their eyes. Thus your sons become worse husbands and worse 
men, and your daughters more lonesome and unhappy women. A 
billiard table until within a short time past was as unknown in 
Bennington as suicide and the slaughter of man by man," etc. 

This extract shows that the editor at least was a timely 
sentinel, and that the community had not yet become so 
familiar with scenes of gross immorality as to be unaffected 
with profound concern by the fact of their occurrence. 

But so far as irreligion and immorality were beconding 
bold, Ave have illustrated more clearly the virtue of prayer, 
and the power of the^ grace of God, which triumphed over 
every obstacle. The affair, which called out the editorial 
quoted from, occurred in August, 1802 ; in the winter of 
1802-3 came one of the most powerful revivals Bennington 



OPEK-AIR MEETiy^GS. 75 

has ever witnessed. Three members of our church survive 
who were added to it among the fruits of that revival : Mrs. 
Betse}^ Edgerton, Mrs. Celinda Henry, and Mrs. Lucinda 
Hubbell.i There are not a few who recollect it. It made 
a vivid impression on the mind. It will be remembered by 
many with gratitude to God through eternity. 

It was still the time of the old meeting-house. Those 
interested in the project of having a new meetiug-house 
had been trying ten years, ami in vain, to obtain a success- 
ful movement of the town to build one. In the winter of 
1803-4 the movement under the new and less stringent 
law was successful. This was the winter immediately suc- 
ceeding the revival, and we ma}' infer tlie one event had 
something to do with the other. At the time of the 
commencement and during the height of the revival the 
old meeting-house was standing. But it was not at all 
times adequate to hold the numbers that then pressed to 
hear the word of God. It was in vogue at that time to hold 
protracted meetings in the open air. There was a three- 
da^'s' meeting here in the open air. 

The Rev. Mr. Davis preached here in that meeting, and 
at other places also in the town. A committee went down 
to Mendon, in Massachusetts, to obtain him. He was, ac- 
cording to the imperfect accounts Ave now get, an abrupt, 
uncultivated, ut ea rnest and successful, laborer here in 
that revival. A Rev. Mr. Nelson preached here also, who 
was more learned and methodical, " a very able man." 

The RcA'. J. Spaulding is remembered as preaching here, 
at that time, with great elevation and power of language, 
particularl}' upon the attributes of God, — the divine be- 
nevolence, — and in connection therewith illustrating with 
uncommon solemnit}^ the obligations and guilt of sinners, 
as well as the blessedness of the heavenly state. 

' AH these have since deceased. 



76 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

Elder Caleb Blood, minister to the West Church in 
Shaftsbury, near the burying-ground, came, with his dea- 
con, Jno. Downes. Elder Blood said to Mr. Haswell, " We 
have come down to warm by 3'our fire, for our fire has gone 
out." iS'ot that the church had become extinct, but its re- 
vival spirit had declined ; and, by coming to the meetings 
in Bennington at that time, his people were warmed anew. 
The Rev. Solomon Allen, of Pittsfield, was here at the 
three-days' meeting ; so also the Rev. Messrs. Jackson of 
Dorset, and Preston of Rupert, and the colored preacher 
the Rev. Mr. Haynes. 

The three-days' open-air meetings were held on the side- 
hill, east of S. S. Scott's residence. At that time Gov. 
Moses Robinson was one of the deacons of the church ; and 
possibly the place of meeting being on the road to his 
house and in its vicinity may be accounted for by that 
fact. The cluster of houses on that corner, namely, S. S. 
Scott's, Mrs. Raymond's, and Mr. Moses Harrington's, were 
not then built. During the meeting, a staging for the min- 
isters and others broke down, — one of the few circum- 
stances recollected by persons now living. No one was 
seriously injured, though some were much frightened. 

Daniel Smith, afterward the Rev. Daniel Smith, of St. 
Louis, was one of the converts. Another was the Miss 
Eleanor Read, as already noticed. She was a consistent, 
happy Christian, and died a triumphant death. We find 
the spirit of the revival manifesting itself in the columns 
of the " Vermont Gazette," then published hfere ; among 
other ways, in original stanzas, of great spirituality and 
fervency. Two stanzas are selected from a contribution 
of this sort to the " Gazette" of July 12, 1803, and intro- 
duced in a note to the editor, signed William Kinnis : — 



HYMNS. 77 

" To meditate on lieavenly things 
Gives to my tliouglit an angel's wings, 
Bears my aspiring mind above, 
And fills my breast with holy love. 

" My flesh and bones exult with joy, 
And holy zeal without alloy ; 
My inmost soul doth all rejoice, 
Absorbed in Christ, my only choice." 

Some stanzas from another hj^mn, " occasioned by the 
present evidently awakened attention of the town to the 
things of religion," are inserted here, not so much for 
poetic merit as a witness to the revival. — Gazette of Nov. 
15, 1802. 

" Oh, art thou passing by? 
And may we see thy face? 
Let every blind Bartimeus cry. 
Lord Jesus, grant me grace ! 

"Let each Zaccheus flee 

To catch a passing glimpse ; 
With zeal ascend the gospel tree. 
And baflle Satan's imps. 

" Kestraiu reviling tongues : 
Be thou the convert's stay ; 
Sustain their hopes, avenge their wrongs, 
And wipe their tears away". 

" Let Bennington rejoice. 

Her church with joy be filled. 
And every heart, and every voice, 
Exult in grace distilled." 

The published account of Miss Read's conversion may 
not be interesting to all ; but, doubtless, it reflects with 
considerable accuracy the spirit of the revival. For this 
reason, a somewhat lengthy extract is presented. Eefer- 

7* 



78 MEMOniALS OF A CENTUUT. 

ring to her attendance at an inquir3'-meeting, where were 
present anxious inquirers and young converts, she proceeds 
as follows : — 

"An aged man came forward, and, in trembling accents, de- 
clared what God had done for his soul. Then a girl of ten years 
old, in a manner the most animating, related her remarkable ex- 
periences. I began to reflect on the assertion of Mr. Spaulding 
that God is good. Surely, thought I, these happy souls can attest 
the truth of this assertion. Their salvation is really as important 
as mine ; and it is remarkable that I should rejoice in their happy 
deliverance from the bondage of sin. God has been long tender- 
ing me the same blessed deliverance. But I, fool indeed, with 
such a price to get wisdom, had no heart for it. Why, then, 
should I murmur? How can I repine? I am forever lost; but 
God is just. Upon this most liearty confession my long-pent tears 
flowed ; and, v/hile bursting sobs almost tore my heart asunder, I 
reviewed my desperately wicked exercises toward him, whom I 
now saw to be just even in my eternal condemnation. Surely, 
thought I, of all the unreasonable wretches in existence, I am the 
most deserving of hell. Here I experienced such unusual convul- 
sions of body as induced me to take hold of a chair before me to 
enable me to keep my seat. I verily supposed that my soul was 
taking its final separation from my body. I attempted to arise, 
in order to go into another room, but found it impossible. I must 
expire, thought I, in the midst of this assembly, for an example 
of God's righteous displeasure. It is just that it should be so; 
and every one present must rejoice in this expression of his right- 
eous indignation against such a vile worker of iniquity. Here I 
viewed myself a criminal, justly condemned to all the tortures of 
endless despair. No gleam of hope beamed on my benighted soul. 
No fond expectations from creature aid whispered consolation. 
Against God only had I oflended, and done this great wickedness, 
and he only could afford me help. My soul seemed humbled in 
the dust in view of my condemnation, while I was constrained to 
cry out in spirit, 'Even so. Lord God Almighty, true and righteous 
are thy judgments.' At this view of my wretched, hopeless situa- 
tion, the following words passed sweetly through my mind, and 
with such delightful energy as thrilled through my whole soul, 
and filled me with rapture inexpressible : — 



THE FRIDAY MEETING. <9 

" ' Jesus, to thy dear, faithful hand, 
My naked soul I trust.' 

" At this most cordial disposal of inj'self into the hands of a glo- 
rious Ecdeemer, the thick cloud seemed to disperse, and give place 
to such a transporting view of the blessed Saviour as no words 
can express. With an eye of faith, I beheld his transcendent 
glory, more conspicuous than that of the natural sun in meridian 
splendor, when bursting from behind the thickest clouds. I could 
no more doubt of the being and divinity of Christ than of my own 
existence. He was presented to mj' spiritual view in such sub- 
stantial glory as caused me to adopt the acclamation of the aston- 
ished Thomas: ^ My Lord and my God!' Here all my distress 
subsided, and all my anxiety for beloved self was cured. I was 
astonished that I could ever have felt such anxiety for myself. 
The greatness of God's character, and the glorious scheme of re- 
demption, filled me with wonder, admiration, and joy. I raised 
my head, and looked on Mr. Spaulding, who was zealously engaged 
in illustrating the righteousness of Christ; but, oh ! how altered 
was his aspect ! ' How beautiful,' thought I, ' are the. feet of him 
that hringeth good tidings, that puhlisheth peace, that saith unto Zion, 
Thy^ God reigneth.' " 

In conclusion of the account of this revival, the follow- 
ing anecdote of Ezekiel Harmon, familiarl}^ told, but per- 
tinent, may be introduced. It is preserved as related by 
Mrs. Austin Harmon, third wife of Austin Harmon, grand- 
father of the present Austin Harmon, and sister-in-law of 
Ezekiel. " Ezekiel Harmon called at the door of our house 
as he was returning from the Friday meeting. I inquired 
of him if he had been to the Friday meeting, and if it was 
a good one. ' A glorious one ! ' said he. ' How many were 
there ? ' I inquired. His reply was, ' Four, — Gov. Robinson, 

Mrs. Judge Robinson, , and myself. We had a glorious 

meeting. We got the promise.' I looked, and I thought 
brother Ezekiel's face fairly shone." This was a short time, 
the summer or fall, before the great revival of 1803.1 

1 This Friday meeting is noticed in two or three other instances in the vol- 
ume. " The Friday P. M. prayer-meeting went back to the formation of the 



80 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

The names of ninetj'-tliree are on the roll of the church 
as added to it at this time. But aged inhabitants have 
stated the impression that there were about two hundred 
hopeful conversions. 

The moral and religious tone of society again became 
elevated. The new meeting-house was built ; considered, 
as doubtless it was, in advance of any other church edifice 
in this part of the country, it added to the new impulse 
Avhich public worship had received from the great revival. 
The town was distinguished for the intelligence and influ- 
ence of its people. Hon. S. H. Brown relates some remi- 
niscences by Col. Hinman, of Utica, N. Y., who was a visitor 
here some few years since. Among other things, that 
gentleman remarked that he could recollect the time, say 
1808-1820, when there was the best society in Bennington 
he ever saw, — men of a superior order of talent, gentlemen 
in their manners, of eminent influence and position in po- 
litical circles and in professional life. 

II. Other Revivals. — In 1811 (during the pastorate 
of the Rev. Daniel Marsh), thirty-eight are known to have 
been received into the church. In 1820 (the 3'ear in which 
the Rev. Absalom Peters was ordained and installed over 
the church), thirty -three were added. In 1827 (the second 
year of the pastorate of the Rev. Daniel A. Clark), there 
was an accession of one hundred and one. In 1838 (the 
interval between the pastorate of the Rev. Mr. Clark and 
that of the Rev. Mr. Hooker), one hundred and sixty-eight 
were added to the church. In 1834 (in the pastorate of the 
Rev. E. W. Hooker), ninety were received into the church. 
Without pursuing the list further, it is apparent there have 

church, and continued until three years after Mr. Hooker came. It was held in 
the meeting-house, in earliest times not uncommonly at Mrs. Samuel Robinson, 
Sen. I liave known my father to go when there were but two or three."— W. 
Haswell. 



HAPPY COMMUNION SEASON. 81 

been repeated seasons of special religious awakening, and 
large ingatherings into the church since the revival of 1803. 

That, in 1831, may be called, perhaps, the greatest re- 
vival, certainly next to that of 1803. In the revival of 
1831, one hundred and thirty-one persons were received 
into the church at one communion. 

The following graphic account of that occasion is from 
Dr. Peters' " Birthday Memorial," Appendix, p. 61 : — 

" I caunot close my reminiscences of the church in Bennington 
without recurring to a scene of surpassing interest, in which I 
was called to participate some five years after my dismission from 
its pastoral care. My immediate successor, the late Rev. Daniel 
A. Clark, had already closed his ministry there, and the church 
was without a pastor. But where his ministry had planted and 
watei'ed, God was giving the increase. It was that wonderful 
year of the right hand of the Most High in many of the churches, 
1831. In connection with the preaching of Rev. E. N. Kirk, then 
of Alhany, and others who had temporarily supplied the pulpit, a 
great revival of religion had been wrought. A large number of 
the hopefully converted had been examined and accepted, and 
were awaiting a formal admission to the church at the next com- 
munion day, September 4th. I was present by invitation, preached 
on the occasion, presided at the administration of the Lord's Sup- 
per, and admitted one hundred and thirty-one persons, on confes- 
sion of their faith, to their lirst communion at the Lord's table. 
Their ages ranged from thirteen to seventy years, and seventy- 
six of the number, not having been baptized in infancy, received 
the sacrament of baptism. 

" The baptismal service alone, for seventy-six persons in succes- 
sion, which was performed wholly by myself, occupied all of two 
hours. Yet this, with the other protracted exercises, produced no 
weariness in the congregation. A wakeful, earnest attention and 
a tearful interest pervaded the assembly, and indicated a divine 
presence above and around us." 




CHAPTER VIII. 

THE FIKST SEVEN PASTORS. 

Rev. Jedidiah Dewet. — Of the Rev. Mr. 
Dewey, the first pastor of the church, it is to be 
regretted that so imperfect a memorial has been 
preserved. Nevertheless the testimoii}' which we 
have (being found here and there in relations so 
diverse from each other, and so foreign to any de- 
sign of a formal eulogy) is the more conclusive to his worth. 
Of the extraordinary measures to obtain Mr. Dewey to the 
pastorship of this church mention has been alread}'^ made 
in the account of the organization of the church. 

Unquestionable evidence has descended to us of his fer- 
vent piety and ability, as well as fidelity. A letter from 
Westfield, Mass., from the pen of the Rev. Emerson Davis, 
D.D., pastor of the original church in Westfield (which Mr. 
Dewey left to join the Separates) is interesting ; and some 
extracts from it may be presented here : — 

" Mr. Dewey united with the church (the original church 
in Westfield) in 1737, at twenty-three 3'ears of age. Soon 
after this the churcli adopted the half-way covenant. . . . 
This was particularly ofiensive to some of the earnest and 
devoted members. They said the church had abandoned 
its principles and would admit unconverted persons to the 
church. Many absented themselves from the communion. 
They left the church. Mr. Dewey did so, in 1748. He 
was called to give account in 1749. In 1750 the church 
voted that, inasmuch as he had gone out from them, had 



mh. vbjff.y's stealing qualities. 83 

joined the Separates, and become their preacher, that they 
would no longer regard him as one of their number. They 
did not call it excommunication, but a withdrawal of fel- 
lowship. Mrs. Dewey was cut off in the same manner in 
1751. Mr. Dewey had onl}^ a common-school education, 
but he was intelligent and gifted. His'Christian character 
stood high. The church refused to excommunicate him, be- 
cause it would imply something criminal, and so they only 
withdrew fellowship." 

From these few but interesting particulars we can learn 
somewhat as to the sort of man he was. He was an ear- 
nest Christian, and had a conscience of his own, and aimed 
to do good, that his life should not be a blank. He bad 
learned the trade of a carpenter. When the first meeting- 
house was raised the force Avas insufficient, and one of the 
sides halted when partly up. Mr. Dewe}^ stepped forward 
and said to the builder, " Do you take a pole and help to 
lift with the men, and I will give the word of command." 
The builder complied. At that instant two men came 
riding up on horseback from the south. The^- dismounted, 
and also grasped the poles. Mr. Dewey gave the word of 
command, and the side of the frame went up forthwith to 
its perpendicular position, was fastened, and the raising of 
the building was completed without further dela}^. He 
also built or superintended the building of the house in 
which he resided. 

It is a proof of Mr. Dewey's sterling qualities that, 
though a Separate and without liberal education, and 
though a party was increasing in the church more in sym- 
pathy with the Standing Order Congregational churches, — 
a reaction apparent in the controvers}^ of the church respect- 
ing the method of raising the salary and other moneys for 
expense of public worship, and which became decisive in 
the character of Mr. Dewey's successor, and in the charac- 



84 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

ter of the men composing the council which installed Mr. 
Aveiy, — yet Mr. Dewey was as much esteemed by the 
conservatives as by any portion of the church and congre- 
gation. An incidental paragraph in the Rev. Mr. Averj^'s 
published narrative corroborates the estimate here pre- 
sented. Referring to the history of the church under Mr. 
Dewey's ministry, he says : — 

"As a number of professors, not of the Separate order, 
have become inhabitants of the town, and have great re- 
spect for the personal and ministerial endowments of the 
Rev. Mr. Dewey, who was of catholic and liberal princi- 
ples, they have, at different periods, joined the communion 
here." 

From the time of his first connection with the Westfield 
church as its pastor to the close of his labors in Benning- 
ton was a period of twenty-nine j^ears. His pastorate of 
the Bennington church continued through a period of fifteen 
years and four months. 

In rude and boisterous times he built up the infant church 
in its new home, and left it to his successor with a roll of 
at least one hundred and twenty-seven names. (Inclusive 
of those deceased and those dismissed.) 

Mr. Dewey was also a patriot. With a warm love of his 
people, and a profound interest in the future prosperit}'^ of 
the infant settlement where he had cast in his lot, his ener- 
gies were unavoidably taxed, not only b}'^ the spiritual 
wants, but also by the secular exigencies of the communitj'. 
As early as January, 1770, he was indicted with others at 
Albany as one of the leaders in the eflbrts of the settlers 
to maintain their land-titles ; not that he was active in 
any violent sense, but his counsels were understood at Al- 
bany to have weight with his fellow-citizens, on public 
affairs. In May, 1772, in a spirited correspondence be- 
tween the New York governor and the inhabitants of Ben- 



Mli. DEWEY A PATRIOT. 85 

niugton, his name is foremost in the address of the gov- 
ernor's letter, and at the head of the signatures in the reply 
of the Bennington men to that letter. The following pas 
sage occurs in that letter : " I am told Mr. Dewey, a 
minister of the gospel, James Breakenridge, and Mr. Ya.j 
(Dr. Jonas Fay) are persons in whose judgment 3'ou have 
much confidence. I should therefore think the}^ would be 
j^our proper messengers on a business in which j-ou are so 
deeply concerned ; especiall}' Mr. Dewey, who has been fa- 
vorably represented here since my appointment to this gov- 
ernment."! As the result of this correspondence with 
Governor Tryon, in which Mr. Dewey took a leading part, 
the government of New York for a time quite modified its 
course ; so much so that the settlers here thought their 
troubles connected with this, controversj- had come to an 
end. Guns were fired in Bennington, speeches made, and 
a vast concourse from this and neighboring places united 
in celebrating what they believed, or hoped, was the dawn 
of peace. These bright hopes were destined, however, to 
be blasted ; but it shows that Mr. Dewey did what he could 
wisely, b}^ peaceful negotiation, to bring an end to contro- 
vers}', and that his influence with Governor Tryon was not 
inconsiderable. 

But Mr. Dewey, it appears, understood and applied the 
maxim, that there are times when forbearance ceases to be 
a virtue ; and hence he was feared as well as respected at 
Albany. He was, as all accounts agree, a man of stern 
force in the discharge of his duty according to his con- 
science. In 1777, when the Revolutionary War had com- 
menced, and the enemy were descending the Hudson River 
with great force, and threatening to devastate the whole 
country, and had sent a detachment to capture the military 
stores at Bennington, he preached a war sermon. He told 

1 See State Papers, pp. 22, 23. 
8 • 



86 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

his people to take arms and go fight for their country. 
On the next Saturday the Bennington battle was fought 
and won. The two following anecdotes do not seem exactly 
credible, but the}' are among the traditional anecdotes of 
Bennington, and given as related to the Avriter : — 

It is related that on one occasion, when Ethan Allen was 
in the congregation, and Mr. Dewey was preaching on the 
character of God, some remark in the discourse displeased 
Col. Allen ; he arose in his place at the head of a prominent 
pew in the broad aisle, and saving with an audible voice, 
" It's not so," started to go out of the pew, evidently 
with the intention of leaving the house. Mr. Dewey, lift- 
ing up his right hand, and pointing with his fore-finger di- 
rectly at Col. Allen, said, '•'■Sit cloion, thou bold hlasphemer,, 
and listen to the Word of *God." Allen, who had too 
strong a taste for that style of doing things not to like 
it under any circumstances, immediately resumed his seat, 
and gave respectful attention to the remainder of the dis- 
course. 

It is also related that at the public divine service of 
thanksgiving for the capture of Ticonderoga, in which 
Allen bore so heroic and so famous a part, many oflflcers 
from Ticonderoga attended, and Allen was present. Mr. 
Dewey preached, and made the praj-er, in which he gave to 
God all the glory and praise of the capture of the strong- 
hold. Allen, in the midst of the prayer, called out, " Par- 
son Dewey ! Parson Dewey ! Parson Deavey ! " The third 
time of so pronouncing his name made Mr. Dewe^' to pause 
and open his eyes. Allen then raised both hands and said, 
^^ Please mention to the Lord about my being there!" Mr. 
Dewey, taking no further notice of the interruption, pro- 
ceeded with the public devotions. 

He could also be genial and pleasant. One or two char- 
acteristic anecdotes are proper to be introduced to illustrate 



ANECDOTES OF MR. DEWEY. 87 

this. When the house, now the residence of Aaron L. 
Hubbell, and built by his father, was raised, Mr. Dewey 
was present : also Joseph Rudd, who was engaged to be 
married to Sarah Wickwire, then living in a house nearly 
opposite. Mr. Dewe}', who knew of the intention of mar- 
riage, said to Joseph, " If 3'ou will go and lead Sarah over 
here, I will marry you for nothing." The reply was, " It's 
a bargain." Joseph led the young lady to the place, some 
planks were laid down upon the timbers for a floor, and 
the}' were married. 

It is related, there was a stupid and withal an eccentric 
or half-witted servant man in Mr. Dewey's house, who had 
the strange habit of arising in the night, and wandering 
from room to room with a lighted candle in his hand. Mr. 
Dewey, who was both a careful and an economical man, 
rebuked the individual, saying he feared his house would 
be set on fire by such proceedings, and moreover he did 
not like to have his candles consumed so uselessly ; but on 
the very next night he heard the noise of the man about 
the house again. Mr. Dewey, full of indignation, and de- 
signing to be very severe, proceeded to the room, and lo ! 
instead of one candle, the fellow had two, one in each hand, 
illuminating his nocturnal perambulations. Mr. Dewey, 
who had a sense for the ludicrous, suddenl}' forgot his 
anger, and retired from the scene, saying not a word. 

If Mr. Dewe}^ had an}^ enemies, it has not been handed 
down. The valuable "right of land called the minister's 
right was settled upon him by vote, as follows : — 

" July 18, 1763. — Vuted, To give the Kev. Jedidiah Dewey the 
lot of laud called the minister's, in said Beuuiug-ton, exclusive of 
the labor already done ou said lot, in case said Mr. Dewey settles 
with us in the gospel ministry." " November 1, 1763. — Votexl, To 
give the llev. Mr. Jedidiah Dewey the lot of land called the minis- 
ter's lot, for his settlement, as an encouragement for him in the 
work of the miuistry." 



88 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

He built and occupied the house, the residence of the late 
Major Aaron Robinson. 

He was the son of Jedidiah and Rebecca (Williams) 
Dewej'. He was born in Westfield, Mass., April 11, 1714, 
and died December 21, 1778. He married Mindwell Hay- 
den Hopkins, of Windsor, Conn., August 4, 1736. They 
were published July 3 of that year. Of her were born to 
him : — 



Mindwell, Nov. 29, 1737. 
Lucy, Nov. 16, 1739. 
Jedidiah, June 17, 1742. 
Elijah, Nov. 28, 1744. 



Eldad, Aug. 12, 1747. 
Lucy, 2d, Nov. 9, 1751. 
Margaret, Nov. 28, 1756. 
Betsey, Dec. 16, 1759. 



Mrs. Mindwell Hayden Dewey died May 29, 1760, before 
Mr. Dewey's removal to Bennington, in the forty-eighth 
year of her age. Mr. Dewey married his second wife, 
Betty Buck, February 20, 1761. Of her were born to 



him : — 



Loan, May 15, 1765. 
Tabitha, Feb. 16, 1768. 
Julia, Oct. 20, 1770. 



Claret, Oct. 6, 1773. 
Phyana, Dec. 13, 1775. 
riina, Jan. 26, 1778. 



Mrs. Betty (Buck) Dewey died June 29, 1792, in the 
fifty-fourth year of her age. 

II. The Rev. David Avery was born April 5, 1746, 
in Norwich, a part of the town called Norwich Farms, 
now a part of the town of Franklin, Conn. His immigrant 
ancestor was John Avery, a Scotchman who settled in 
Truro, Mass. His parents were John and Lydia (Smith) 
Avery. He experienced religion under the preaching of 
Whitfield. 1 He was fitted for college in the noted Indian 
Missionary School of the Rev. Eleazer Wheelock, D.D., at 

iKotes of the Kev. P. H. White. 



A JFAR SEnMOy. 89 

Lebanon Crank (now Columbia). Conn. He was gradu- 
ated at Yale College in 1769, and studied theology with 
his former preceptor, then President of Dartmouth College, 
(into which institution the Indian Missionary School had 
just been formed).^ He was ordained as missionary to the 
Oneida Indians, Aug. 29, 1771, as colleague with the Rev. 
Samuel Kirkland. This Mr. Kirkland was son of the 
Rev. Daniel Kirkland, pastor of the Newint (now Lisbon) 
church in Connecticut, from which the Newint Separate 
church, previously referred to in this discourse, separated. 
Mr. • Avery did not, however, long remain among the 
Indians, but returned to New England and preached in 
various places until March 25. 1773, when he was installed 
at Gageboro' (now Windsor), Mass. 

The Sabbath after the news of the battle of Lexington 
reached Gageboro', he preached a farewell sermon, telling 
the people that God would take care of them ; as for him- 
self he was going to join the army. When the congre- 
gation was dismissed he took his stand upon the steps, and 
gave a soul-stirring address on behalf of his country, en- 
treating his people "by every motive of patriotism, and as 
they valued liberty and abhorred slavery, not to turn a 
deaf ear to her ciy." Twenty of his parishioners gave a 
quick response to his appeal, chose him captain, shouldered 
their muskets, and started on foot for Boston. In ten 
daj'S from the battle of Lexington the}' were in their camp 
at Cambridge. They rested the first Sabbath at North- 
am[)ton and attended public worship. In the afternoon, 
Mr., now Capt., Avery preached. His text was Nehemiah 
iv. 14, — " And I looked and rose up and said unto the nobles 
and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people. Be not 
ye afraid of them ; Remember the Lord, which is great, 

lOne hundred aud fiftieth anniversary pamphlet of Columbia, Conn., by the 
Rev. F. D. Avery and others. 
8* 



90 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons and 
your daughters, your wives and your houses." On the fol- 
lowing Saturday, they arrived at Cambridge, and on Sun- 
day Mr. Avery preached to the whole army from the same 
text. He received a commission as chaplain in the arm}', 
dated April 18, 1776, and was attached to Col. Sherborne's 
regiment. He not only faithfully performed the duties of 
his office, but occasionally volunteered to stand guard, or 
even to go into a battle. While holding his position as 
captain, he instituted daily religious services, going from 
tent to tent to read the word of God. At first he had 
leave of absence from his parish, the neighboring minis- 
ters supplying the pulpit two-thirds of the time ; but his 
absence being protracted he was dismissed from Gageboro', 
April 14, 1777. He was at the battle of Bunker Hill ; saw 
the defeat of our army at the battle of Long Island ; was 
by the side of Washington in his melancholy retreat 
through the Jerseys ; was present at the taking of Bur- 
goyne, at the capture of the Hessians at Trenton, and in 
the battle of Princeton ; was in the army during that ter- 
rible winter at Valley Forge ; helped build the fortification 
at Ticonderoga ; was by the side of Washington when he 
signed the death-warrant of Andre, and witnessed the ex- 
ecution of that ill-fated officer ; and vvas very active in the 
efforts which were made to capture the traitor Arnold.^ 
He resigned his chaplainc}' Feb. 1, 1780, but continued to 
serve till March, 1780. 

His ministry at Bennington was next in order. He pub- 
licly took charge of the church and congregation here, in 
the presence of the Rev. Messrs. Daniel Collins, Samuel 
Morrison, and Seth Swift, May 3, 1780. With the excep- 
tion of church action in cases of discipline, and the doings 
of the councils in his own case, the records present little 

1 Anniversary pamphlet of Columbia, Conn. 



Mn. avejiy's doctrines. 91 

clue to the nature and extent of his labors in this field. 
Tradition has preserved still fewer particulars of his min- 
istry here. A manuscript letter, written by him after he 
left, to one of his Bennington flock, speaks of his earnest 
endeavors to inculcate the doctrines of God's word, both in 
his sermons and bible-classes. He was, undoubtedlj', 
active and laborious ; but what special fruits there were of 
his labors here the judgment-day can only disclose. He 
was dismissed at his own request, by vote of the church, 
June 17, 1783. 

He was settled at Wrentham, Mass., May 25, 1786, and, 
after much difficulty there, was dismissed April 21, 1794, 
but still continued to preach to a congregation in North 
Wrentham. He afterward removed to Mansfield, Conn., 
and employed himself with preaching in vacant parishes in 
Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont. He also per- 
formed two missionary tours in the western part of New 
York State, and one in Maine, under the patronage of the 
Massachusetts Domestic Missionary Society. He afterward 
gathered a church and society in Chaplin, Conn,, to which 
he preaclied for three years. In October, 1817, he went to 
Shepardstown, Va., to visit a daughter, and while there re- 
ceived a call to settle in Middletown, Va. 

He possessed superior talents and culture. Strange to 
say, in two or more instances of disaffection toward him 
in the parishes where he was, the openly alleged ground of 
dissatisfaction was unsoundness of doctrine, " leaning 
toward Socinianism ; " and yet all the reliable evidence 
goes to show that he was a bold and discriminating preacher 
of Orthodox doctrines. The principal charges against him, 
before the council in this place, were with regard to the 
doctrines which he preached. Three specifications were 
presented in the complaint, wherein, as was alleged, his 
doctrines were false. The council decided that the views 



92 MEMORIALS OF A CENTUUY. 

of doctrine which the complainants alleged he taught, and 
which thG3' regarded as unsound, were correct.^ 

While here, Mr. Avery built and occupied the house late 
the residence of Judge Isham. He used to sign his name 
David Avery, V.U.M., — Verbi Dei Minister, — minister of 
the word of God. He is described as tall, portly, of com- 
manding presence and strongly marked features ; a gentle- 
man of the old school, frank, cordial, and dignified. He 
usually preached extemporaneously^ from short notes. • He 
wrote witha very large, open, and graceful cliirography, ex- 
ceedingly pleasant to read. He had a clear, sonorous voice, 
and spoke so distinctly that ever}^ soldier in a brigade could 
hear all that he said.- His published discourses were, two 
funeral sermons ; a thanksgiving sermon ; and a sermon on 
holding the tongue. 

When upwards of sevent}', he received the call to settle 
in INIiddletown, Va. His installation was appointed, but 
never toqk place. It was prevented by illness, which proved 
fatal. The clergymen who were pall-bearers at his funeral 
were the same who were invited to his installation. The 
text on which he last preached, about two weeks before his 
deatli, was Rom. viii. 9 : " Now if any man have not the 
spirit of Christ, he is none of his." In the incipient stages 
of his last sickness, some evangelical ministers and elders 
of different denominations assembled by his request at the 
house where he was, and established a united monthly con- 
cert of prayer. One of the praj-ers he offered himself, sit- 
ting bolstered up upon his dying-bed. He died of tjq^hus 
fever, Feb. 16, 1818. 

in. The Rev. Job Swift, D.D., was born in Sandwich, 
Mass., June 17, 1743. His parents were Jabez and Abi- 
gail Swift, of Kent, Conn., to which place his father re- 

1 Church Records, uiii Mr. Avery's Narrative, -' Notes of Mr. P. II. Vrhite. 



rnouBLOus times in the country. 93 

moved when he was very young. He was graduated at col- 
lege in 1765. His mind became hopefully impressed with a 
sense of religion while engaged in the study of Pres. Ed- 
wards' writings at college. He was assisted in his theologi- 
cal studies by the Rev. Dr. Bellamy. He was little more 
than twenty-two 3'ears of age when he became a preacher of 
the gospel. In the following year he was ordained over a 
church and people in Richmond, Mass., where he labored 
seven years. After his dismission from the church in Rich- 
mond, he preached in different places for a twelvemonth. 
He then removed to the Nine Partners, in the State of New 
York, and remained there seven years. Thence he re- 
moved to Manchester, in this State. After a ministry of 
two years there, he removed to Bennington, and was in- 
stalled here May 31, 1780. 

His labors here were arduous and prosperous ; but it was 
not a time of numerous and extensive revivals. The con- 
troversy respecting the claims of New York was not finally 
adjusted until Oct. 28, 1790, some four and a half years on- 
ward in his ministry here. The State was not admitted into 
the Union until March 4, 1791. The troubles had already 
commenced, growing out of the impoverishment of the 
people b}' the Revolutionary War, and the depreciation of 
paper currency. By the latter cause, Mr. Swift, previously 
to his removal to Bennington, had the misfortune of losing 
the chief part of his property. There were heavy taxes to 
meet the necessities of the national and State governments. 
There were serious disturbances in different parts of Ver- 
mont, and attempts to resist the collection of the taxes. 
The Shay's rebellion in Massachusetts, from the same 
cause, occurred at this time, — 1786, 1787. In Vermont, 
the attempts to overawe the courts and resist the officers of 
the government, though not in the end successful, showed 
how deep was the distress of the people because of the 



94 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

povert}' occasioned by the long and arduous struggle with 
man}' and diverse enemies and dangers. The difficulties of 
this time were aggravated fearfully in Vermont by its anom- 
alous condition. It being yet unrecognized as a State by 
neighboring States and by the Federal Union, and its 
self-constituted regime being resisted and denied by some of 
its own citizens, there was naturally an extraordinary influx 
into the State of lawless persons, — individuals bankrupt in 
character, as well as in finances. This was a source of dis- 
order in the State of serious extent. The high part played 
by Bennington in the civil affairs of the State was continued. 
Twice during the ministry of Mr. Swift, the Legislature was 
convened here, — in 1787, and in 1792. Also during his min- 
istry here the party spirit of the two political parties, called 
then Federal and Republican, waxed warm and was often- 
times at fever-heat. This excitement and struggle of polit- 
ical parties began as soon as Vermont was admitted into 
the Union. Intensity of party contests in Bennington, it 
would seem, could not have been surpassed elsewhere. In- 
fluential men, indeed the preponderance of influence in the 
church and society, were committed to Jefferson and his ad- 
ministration. Mr. Swift is represented as a model minis- 
ter for prudence. Pie was at all times careful of the inter- 
ests of Christ's spiritual kingdom. lie, however, without 
doubt, sympathized with Pres. Dwight, of Yale College, 
and the Rev. Dr. Emmons, of Massachusetts, and other 
leading New England divines, who conscientiousl}^ believed 
Jefferson to be infidel in religious opinion, and who gave 
to this consideration great weight in their comparative esti- 
mate of the political parties of that time. It is represented 
that Mr. Swift gave dissatisfaction because his prayers at 
public worship were so worded as not to recognize Jeffer- 
son as a Christian, — it being the custom to pray particu- 
larly for both the President and Vice-President of the 



DR. swift's method OF pheaching. 95 

United States. In 1792, six j-ears after the installation 
of Mr, Swift, the subject of the erection of a new meeting- 
house began to be seriousl}'^ agitated, and was carried into 
the town meetings. This agitation was continued during 
the remainder of Mr. Swift's ministry here. 

It was a time of religious desolation throughout the land. 
A sermon to the ministers — one of the printed collection of 
his sermons — has this conclusion : — 

" In a worldly view there are to all many discouragements. It 
is a time in which error prevails. It is a time of great stupidity and 
dark worldly prospects. But, cost what it may, let us preserve 
fidelity to our Lord and Master. You may be courted, on the one 
hand, to keep back the truth, and threatened on the other. But, 
oh, it is infinitely too great a sacrifice to gain the honors and riches 
of this world at the expense of fidelity to Christ ! We are not, my 
brethren, to expect much from this world. This, however com- 
fortable, would be but a poor reward. If we are fiiithful, we shall 
have an inflnilely more important reward. A crown of glory 
awaits us from our Lord and Master, Avhich may we, by our faith- 
ful labors, inherit, for the Redeemer's sake." 

Upon the records of the church are preserved the names 
of thirty persons who united with the church during Mr. 
Swift's ministry here. Strange it would be if not man}' 
were added of whom no record is preserved, so imperfectly 
kept were the records. 

There was no attempt in his sermons at quaintness, or 
antithesis, or merel}^ rhetorical ornament. He chose an im- 
portant subject of religious doctrine or practice, went 
straight through with it, and stopped when he came to a 
proper end. He enlarged upon his theme according to the 
Scripture, and that his audience might obtain as profitable 
an understanding of it as possible, and applied the same in 
a short, pertinent improvement. He preached on civil 
government to tlie Legislature convened at Manchester ; on 
the duties of ministers to the ministerial association. He 



96 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

preached on the duties of children, and duties of parents. 
A small volume of his sermons, and plans of sermons, was 
l)ublished after his decease, together with a biographical 
sketch, and the substance of a discourse to his meraorj^ by 
the Rev. Lemuel Haynes. 

He reared a large family on slender means. He fitted 
his sons himself for college. At the same time, he was 
noted for his hospitality. Mr. Hajnies, in his memorial 
discourse, says, " Mr. Swift's benevolence and hospitality 
often astonished those who came under his roof." Mr. 
Ha3a]es had peculiar occasion to remember these traits. 
Mr. Haynes, it is well known, though highly gifted, and 
the pastor of three most respectable white congregations 
successively, was " the colored preacher." But he was 
never, hy the least act of Mr. Swift, made to feel the differ- 
ence. And when, on the occasion of many ministers being 
together over night, and so needing to be assigned two to 
one bed, Mr. Swift would anticipate all difficult}^ of allotting 
his brother of the darker skin by delicately saying, " Broth- 
er Haynes and I will go together." He ever possessed a 
deep interest in young men Avho were seeking an education, 
and in pious young men who Jiad the ministrj^ in view, and 
assisted many. Mrs. Hendrick, wife of Deacon Hendrick, 
of the Shaftsbury Baptist Church, residing where Perez 
Harwood, senior, deceased, resided, or near there, had a 
Baptist meeting at her house in a time of revival, and Mr. 
Swift came into the meeting. She said, "I am apprehen- 
sive, Mr. Swift, the young folks will be afraid of you ; they 
are bashful." — " I think not," said he. He soon obtained 
their confidence, and the}' related their experiences very 
freely. Thc}^ were young converts. At the close of the 
meeting, Mrs, Hendrick spoke to Mr. Swift of the success 
of the occasion. " One of the most interesting meetings," 
she said, "I have ever attended." Mr. Swift replied, "I 



DECEASE OF DR. SJVIFT. 97 

do not know that I have more than the one talent ; but I 
can feed Christ's lambs." 

He was graduated at Yale College, He received the 
degree of Doctor in Divinity from Williams College. He 
was successively member of the corporations of Dartmouth, 
Williams, and Middlebury Colleges. He was sent for from 
far and near to eclesiastical councils. At his death he was 
called the Apostle of Vermont.^ 

He loved to do missionary work, and went sometimes to 
a great distance to preach the gospel to the destitute. His 
death occurred suddenly, while thus ' temporarily engaged 
in missionarj'^ labor. It took place at Enosburgh, in this 
State, Oct. 20, 1804. He had removed from Bennington to 
Addison, and his labors there were being much blessed. 
The town had been distracted with serious divisions ; but 
after he commenced his labors there the moral and religious 
character of the people was soon entirel}^ changed. A 
church was organized, and rendered respectable by the 
number of its members. "It is not easy," says the biog- 
rapher, " to conceive the grief which the people there felt 
on learning the sorrowful news of his death." He died in 
the triumjihs of faith. When asked if he ivas willing to die, 
he replied, " Death has no terrors." 

He resided in the capacious house now first south of the 
late residence of Gay R. Sanford, deceased ; the same house 
or near to which in the earliest times here was the residence 
of John Fassett, clerk of the proprietors' meeting, deacon 
of the church, and innkeeper in that place. 

He was a very large man. A lady,' witb whom I was 
conversing on the subject, related to me that she was a 
child when he was pastor of this church, but that she recol- 

1 Eev. Calvin Durfee. (See " Proceedings at the Centennial of the Berkshire 
Congregational Association.") 
3 Mrs. Raymond. 
9 



98 MEMOniALS OF A CENTURY. 

lects him well. She recollects going to another town to 
visit there ; and, seeing a small man in the pulpit, she in- 
quired if he was a minister, with some surprise. She had 
always seen Dr. Swift in the pulpit, and supposed that 
none but very large men were suitable to be ministers. 

He was married Nov. 6, 1769, to Mary Ann Sedgwick 
of Cornwall, Conn., sister of Hon. Theodore Sedgwick. 
She died in February, 1826. Their children were : — 

Sarah Gold, Born, Nov. 13, 1770. Died, Oct. 23, 1853. 

Clarinda, " July 18, 1772. " April 12, 1851. 

Serenus, " May 27, 1774. " April 3, 1865. 

Noadiah, " Feb. 24, 1776. " March 21, 18G0. 

Erastus, " Feb. 9, 1778. " April 14, 1848. 

Benjamin, " April 9, 1780. " Nov. 11, 1841. 

Samuel, " Aug. 2, 1782. 

Mary Ann, " July 22, 1784. " March, 1790. 

Samanthe, , " May 12, 1786. " June 20, 1805. 

Persis, " March 28, 1788. " Sept. 5, 1815. 

Laura, " March 6, 1790. " April, 1790. 

Heman, " Sept. 30, 1791. " Jan. 30, 1856. 

Job Sedgwick, " April 11, 1794. " June, 1859. 

Mary Ann, " Aug. 18, 1796. 

Of these children, Heman spent several months at An- 
dover Theological Seminary, in the study of divinity, but 
left for the profession of medicine. The only son who 
became a preacher was Job Sedgwick, who, after gradua- 
tion at Andover, preached several months in Maine and 
Vermont ; but, his health failing, he went to the South, was 
employed souie time in teaching in Georgia, and afterward 
turned his attention to other pursuits. Two of the grand- 
sons became ministers, — Alfred Brown Swift, son of Hon. 
Benjamin Swift, and Henr}' Martyn, son of Dr. Heman Swift. 

His second son, Noadiah Swift, M.D., became a deacon 
in this church. 



MR. marsh's ministerial LABORS. 99 

The following is the testimony of President Dwight to 
Dr. Swift's worth : — 

" Dr. Swift was one of the best and most useful men whom we 
ever knew. Good men loved him. and delighted in his society, 
and the worst men acliuowledged his worth. To the churches 
and ministers of Vermont he was a patriarch. He possessed an 
understanding naturally vigorous, respectable learning, sound 
theological opinions, eminent prudence, and distinguished zeal, 
combined in the happiest manner with moderation, benevolence, 
and piety ; and wherever he was known he is remembered with 
the highest veneration." ' 

IV. The Rev. Daniel Marsh was born in New Mil- 
ford, Conn., May 10, 1762. The first public school he 
attended was at Brunswick, New Jersej'', in the time of 
the Revolutionary War. He served as militia man at vari- 
ous times, travelled on foot, to and fro, between Connecti- 
cut and New Jersey. He cut wood night and morning to 
pay for his board, and by his own exertions obtained his 
education. He studied divinity with the Rev. Dr. Bradford, 
near Boston. He received an honorary degree of M.A., from 
Williams College, in 1795. 

He was ordained at Poughkeepsie, N. Y., June 30, 1790 ; 
was pastor of the church there several years ; thence he re- 
moved to Catskill, N. Y. ; next to Salisbury on the Royal 
Grant ; thence to Ballston and Saratoga ; thence to Ben- 
nington. 

He succeeded the Rev. .Job Swift, D.D, He preached 
in this town as earl}^ as 1805, and was the first settled min- 
ister after the great revival in 1802-3. According to rec- 
ords of the Congregational society — kept in the town 
records — of March 27, 1805, at a meeting of the Congre- 
gational society : — 

1 " Dwight's Travels," vol. ii., p. 44.3. 



100 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

" Voted, That the society recommend the Committee of Supply 
to hire Mr. Marsh for the year ensuing." 

The building of the new meeting-house was approaching 
to completion. By vote of the society, Mr. Marsh preached 
its dedication sermon. December 4, 1805, was first ap- 
pointed for the dedication ; afterward the time was changed, 
and the dedication took place on New Year's Day, 1806. 
The dedication sermon was published with the hymns sung 
on the occasion. A sermon by Mr, Marsh, subsequently 
preached before the Legislature, and a sermon on the six- 
teenth of August, 1809, were published. 

" March 19, 1806, on application of seven freeholders, declaring 
themselves to be of the Congregational order, and also by particu- 
lar request of the Congregational Church, all inhabitants of the 
town of Bennington, and especially of the Congregational society, 
are warned to meet at the court-house, to see if they will unite in 
calling the Rev. Daniel Marsh to settle over said church and society ; 
to see if they will vote a sura of money for salary from year to 
year, or for the year ensuing ; and to choose a committee, or in some 
other way to agree with him what he shall have." " March 31, 1806. 
— Met according to warning ; voted affirmatively ; voted to give four 
hundred and fifty dollars yearly, and so long as he shall continue 
with us in the gospel ministry." " May 12, 1806. — Adjourned meet- 
ing. Voted, It belongs to the chui'ch to call the installing council. 
Voted, It is our wish the church would unite with the Rev. Daniel 
Marsh in calling a council." 

Mr. Marsh was accordingly installed, and remained pas- 
tor of this church until regularly dismissed by an ecclesi- 
astical council, April 25, 1820. 

When his labors closed in Bennington, he went out, a 
short season, as missionary into Central New York, aided 
by a missionar}^ society in Massachusetts ; then he preached 
in Rupert in this State ; thence to a feeble church in James- 
ville, Onondaga Co., N. Y. There he enjoyed a powerful 



MR. marsh's success 7iV BENNINGTON. 101 

and extensive revival, in which his own soul was much en- 
larged, and the church greatly strengthened. This was the 
crowning work of his ministry ; for, after a few 3'ears of suc- 
cessful labor there, he suffered from inflammation of his eyes, 
by which he so far lost his sight that he was unable to read 
the remainder of his life. Although he gave up his charge, 
he continued to preach occasionally until near the time o^ 
his death. 

Under his ministry, seventj^-seven are known to havt 
been received into the church here. Among them, Hiran 
Bingham, the missionary, Luther Bingliam, Charles Cush 
man, Capt. Elijah Dewey (at seventy-four 3'^ears of age) 
Jotham French (afterward deacon), Henry Harwood 
Hiram Harwood, second, Seth Hathaway, Steplien Hin? 
dill (afterward deacon), James Nichols, James B. Nichols 
and others. Among the additions to the church, under hi- 
ministry here, were several who were hopefully converter 
while he resided as a near neighbor to them. The Bing 
hams, the Nicholses, Mr. French, were near neighbors ti 
him when he resided on the Charles Hicks farm. Als 
Eunice (Mrs. Martin) and Lydia Bingham, Mrs. Uria' 
Edgerton, a neighbor, Mrs. Hinsdill, motlier of Mrs. Geo 
W. Robinson. Also four female members of the Nichol 
family. He was very sociable. When he moved into th 
Hunt place, Capt. Burt lived near him. Capt. B. was no 
favorable to ministers, and said he should " neither borro\ 
nor lend." Mr. Marsh heard of it, went to Capt. Burt': 
and asked to borrow a saddle. Capt. B. lent him the sac 
die, and, in due time, became a great friend of Mr. Marsl 
He was a man of peace, and successful in settling difficultie 
among brethren. On one occasion, being called, as a men 
ber of a council, to settle a difficulty in a neighborin 
church, when the council had assembled, and while the 
were organizing and preparing for business, Jie brougl. 
9* 



102 MEMORIALS OF A VENTUHY. 

the contending parties together, and reconciled them before 
the council was ready to hear the case. His salary was 
small. He was obliged to work a farm, which he was en- 
abled to purchase with property of his wife. While the 
horses were at work on the farm, he was accustomed to go 
from one side of the town to the other on foot, attending 
meetings, officiating at funerals, and visiting the sick. He 
subsequently bought a farm in Jamesville, in part with pro- 
ceeds of the sale of his Bennington farm. He was gifted in 
prayer. On one sixteenth of August, at the celebration, 
he was designated to make the pra3^er. He introduced so 
much pertinent matter into the prayer, the orator of the 
'day complained that there was nothing left for the oration. 

In his last sickness he enjo3'ed much of the presence of 
his Saviour, and officiated in pra3'ers in his son's family as 
long as his voice was audible. He died at Jamesville, N. 
y., Dec. 13, 1843. A veteran of eighty-two j-ears, he met 
death in peace, rejoicing in the hope of a glorious immor- 
tality. 

In the early part of his ministry he married Miss Anna 
Jagger, daughter of Deacon Stephen Jagger, of Long Isl- 
and. His wife was a remarkable woman. While residing 
in the north part of this town, hearing of Robert Raikes' 
Sabbath school, she organized one in her own house for the 
children in her vicinity. This, at the time, she supposed 
to be the first Sabbath school in the United States. ^ She 



1 A Sabbath school was organized in Middlebury, in this State, in 1813, and in 
Greensboro' in 1814. (" Vermont Chronicle," June 4 and July 30, ISfil.) And in 
Connecticut, substantially, though not exactly, in the modern form, as early as 
1704. (See Cont. Ecc. Hist. Conn., pp. 191-2.) It may not be out ol' place to in- 
troduce liere the following notice of a tract enterprise, contained in the " Green 
Mountain Farmer" of August, 1811 : " Excited by the example, and encouraged 
by the success of religious tract societies in different parts of the United States, 
and elsewhere iu the world, a respectable number of persons in Bennington have 
subscribed and contributed to procure excellent cheap religious tracts for chari- 
table distribution," etc., etc. 



EXTRACTS FROM A DIARY. 103 

also drew up a series of Bible questions, which she had 
printed at the printing-office of Anthony Haswell. She 
also organized a cent society for contributions to the mis- 
sionary cause, which continued a long time afterward in 
this parish. 

They had nine children, — seven sons and two daughters. 
One of his sons, Edwards Marsh, became a minister of the 
gospel. One of his daughters became the wife of the Rev. 
Cyrus Hudson. 

Two or three short extracts respecting Mr. Marsh, from 
Benjamin Harwood's diary, will interest those who remem- 
ber either of these persons. Here is one to show that Mr. 
Marsh found some not smooth sailing early in his ministry 
here : — 

"May 30, 1808. — This afteruoon I attended a meeting of the 
Congregational society. The question to be tried was, Whether 
we should support our pi'esent minister or not? It was carried in 
the affirmative. There was some debate on the subject, which 
was conducted with candor and coolness, except in some instances 
where party feelings could not be suppressed. Judge Robinson in- 
timated that, should Mr. Marsh be turned away through the influ- 
ence of his enemies, he was of the opinion that another minister 
could not be had here. He meant to be honest about it, and said 
he should vote against settling any other man. He appears to be 
a pretty warm advocate for Mr. Marsh. I was on the affirmative." 

Very Anti-universal. — ''April 22,1810. — Had the pleasure of 
being where I might have heard Mr. Marsh had sleep not blocked 
up my hearing channels. By this I do not mean I heard none at 
all. I understood of his preaching enough to know that it was 
very anti-universal." 

Solemn and Impressive. — (Diary of Hiram Harwood.) — "May 
28,1813. — Mr. Marsh preached the funeral sermon of Governor 
Robinson in a solemn and impressive style." 

March Meetings opened with Prayer. — " March 29, 1809. — A full 
meeting convened at the court-house, and, after an excellent 
prayer by the Rev. Mr. Marsh, proceeded to business." 



104 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

V. The Rev. Absalom Peters, D.D., was born in 
Grafton C'ounty, New Hampshire, Sept. 19, 1793. His 
father was Gen. Absalom Peters, a graduate of Dartmouth 
College, and descendant of a brother of Hugh Peters, fa- 
mous as an adherent of Cromwell, and who was beheaded 
on the restoration of Charles II., — a martyr to the cause of 
civil and religious liberty. The mother of Dr. Peters is 
claimed to be a lineal descendant of John Rogers, the 
Smithfield martyr of " catechism " celebrity. 

Dr. Peters was graduated at Dartmouth College, in 1816 ; 
studied Theology at Princeton ; was ordained and installed 
pastor, at Bennington, July 5, 1820, and dismissed Dec; 
14, 1825, to accept the secretaryship of the United Do- 
mestic Missionary Society, and as such to aid in the forma- 
tion of the American Home Missionary' Society, of which 
he was the first secretary, continuing such until 1837, — in 
these years also commencing and editing the " Home Mis- 
sionary and Pastor's Journal ; " was editor of the "American 
Biblical Repository" for four and a half j-ears, commencing 
January 1, 1838 ; on November 20, 1844, was installed 
pastor of the First Church of Christ in Williamstown, 
Massachusetts, and dismissed, at his ov>-n request, Septem- 
ber 4, 1857. Beside these more protracted fields of labor, * 
Dr. Peters' peculiar talent for originating and helping for- 
ward new instrumentalities in the cause of Christ has found 
scope in various engagements of lesser duration. Among 
these may be mentioned, his connection Avith the Union 
Theological Seminary, as one of its original projectors, and 
agent to collect funds for it, and in which he received ap- 
pointment to the chair of Homiletics and Pastoral Theolo- 
gy ; also his connection with the " American Eclectic," as 
originator and editor for a brief time, and other temporary 
labors. 

He was the immediate predecessor, in Bennington, of 



MR. PETERS^ LABORS IN BENNINGTON. 105 

the Eev. Daniel A. Clark. Under his ministry here, Arti- 
cles of Faith and a Covenant were adopted by the church, 
— it having been before with no other instrument of this 
sort excepting the Cambridge Platform. The church rec- 
ords, too, were kept with remarkable neatness and care by 
Major Aaron Robinson, the clerk. Mr. Peters was warmly 
seconded, in his efforts to elevate the tone of morals and re- 
ligion in the community, by intelligent and spirituall}^ minded 
Christians. This was his youthful pastorate. With a grace- 
ful style in sermonizing, and great ardor in his work, he at- 
tracted large audiences, and was blessed with numerous addi- 
tions to the church. He will pardon the insertion here of an 
anecdote related by himself to the writer. In the first 
days of his ministry here, sitting one day in his study, he 
was surprised by a loud and repeated knock at his study 
door, and, upon being bidden to enter, in rushed an entire 
stranger, of eccentric manner, and from the north part of 
the State, who took him solemnly by the hand, and proceed- 
ed to say, sadly, " Brother Peters, I have come to warn 
you, to pronounce a woe upon you — ' Woe unto you, when 
all men shall speak well of you!'" 

Not a very long time afterward the same individual paid 
him another visit in his study, but with a cheerfulness 
quite in contrast with his former aspect. He now grasped 
Mr. Peters warmly with both hands, and said, "This 
time. Brother Peters, I have come to congratulate you ; 
3'ou are all right now." The truth was, the wrath of some 
individuals in the communit}^ had been roused recently 
against Mr. Peters ; the particular occasion of which was 
a sermon preached^ September 29, 1822, aimed directly 
against public wickedness, which the week previously had 

1 The text was, " When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of 
the Lord shall lift up a standard against him." — Is, xlix. 19. The sermon was 
published by unanimous request of the church. 

\ 



106 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

assumed an alarming form in a devotion of a portion of the 
inhabitants, and of not a few congregated here from 
abroad, for nearly the entire week, to horse-racing and the 
performances of a travelling theatrical company. The 
zeal and efforts of Mr. Peters in this connection had no 
small share in the enactment of severe statutes against such 
evils, which, particularl}'' with regard to travelling circuses, 
have for a long time not been inoperative in this State, until 
by an enactment, approved November 9, 1865, the bars, as 
to circuses, are again let down. 

Dr. Peters was married, Oct. 25, 1819, to Miss Har- 
riet Hinkly Hatch, daughter of Major Reuben Hatch, of 
Norwich, in this State. Of seven children, the issue of 
this marriage, three were born in Bennington, — George 
Absalom Peters, M.D ; Harriet Adeline, wife of the 
Rev. William Clift ; and Horace Hatch, deceased in in- 
fancy.^ 

VI. The Rev. Daniel A. Clark was born in Rahway, 
N. J., March 1, 1799. His Mher was David Clark, a rela- 
tive of Abraham Clark, whose name appears among the 
signers of the Declaration of Independence. . He was hope- 
fully converted at the age of fifteen, and one year afterward 
united with the church. He Avas graduated at Princeton 
College in 1808 ; pursued studies preparatory^ to the sacred 
ministrj^ at the Theological Seminary in Andover ; and 
was ordained and installed pastor of the Congregational 
Union church of Braintree and We3'mouth, Jan. 1, 1812. 
He remained in that charge until the fall of 1815. January, 
1816, he was installed pastor of the Congregational church 
in Southbury, Conn., which field he left to be installed as 
pastor of West Parish, Amherst, Mass., Jan. 26, 1820. 

1 See "A Birthday Sreinorial of Seventy Years, with Memories and Ucflec- 
tions for the Aged and the Young ; by Absalom Teters, D.D." New York, 1866. 



POWER IN THE PULPIT. 107 

From Amherst he came to Bennington, and was here in- 
stalled June 14, 1826. His next and last pastorate was 
in Adams, Jefferson Count}^ N. Y., where he was instalhid 
over the Presbyterian church July 17, 1832. He also la- 
bored for intervals before his ordination, and in repeated 
instances between his pastorates, iu other places. He de- 
ceased March 3, 184*. "Without a struggle or a groan he 
calmly fell asleep in Jesus." 

Mr. Clark's sermons and other productions have been 
repeatedly issued from the press. The last in two octavo 
volumes, with a biography.^ 

When thorouglil^^ roused, which he often was, Mr. Clark 
delivered his thoughts from the pulpit with herculean force, 
nor did he disdain to flash the truth from a polished blade, 
or to cut a way for it to the conscience with a whetted edge. 
Sometimes his sentences disclosed a beauty rarely sur- 
passed. A layman ,2 resident in Bennington during Mr. 
Clark's ministry here, states that of the many sermons of 
this divine which he heard, the one most impressed upon 
his own memor}^ was marked b)'^ great beauty of style. 
The subject of this discourse was " The Beauty of Holi- 
ness." The discourse does not appear in the printed works. 
Of his discourse, "The Church Safe," the Rev. Dr. Sprague 
says,3 "It is enough to immortalize the mind that could 
produce it." 

Children listened with delight to his preaching, because 
of its simplicity and clearness. It is related * of a bright 
little girl, that, returning home from church one Sabbath 
day, she was inquired of who preached, and replied, with 

1 "The Complete Works of Rev. Daniel A. Clark," edited by his son, James 
Henry Clark, M.D., with a Biographical Sketch, and an Estimate of his Powers 
as a Preacher, in two volumes. Ives & Phinney, New York. 

2 Seth B. Hunt. 

3 Letter to J. Henry Clark, M.D., in Clark's Works, etc. 
* By Mrs. Darius Clark. 



108 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

marked signs of pleasure, "Nobody preached; Mr. Clark 
talked to us." Mr. Clark had preached a sermon to chil- 
dren, and they, in their interest in what he said, forgot that 
it was a sermon. 

The well-aimed labors of his predecessor, Mr. Peters, it 
is evident, had not whollj^ eradicated^ public sin from the 
community-. A travelling theatre advertised to visit Ben- 
nington ; and the young men, some of whom knew better, 
had become committed to sustain the affair, and were quite 
determined to brave the opposition to it among good men. 
One of them, since a judge upon the bench of the Supreme 
Court in this State, has described the appearance of Mr. 
Clark when he entered upon the introductory' exercises of 
the pulpit next Sabbath morning. There was a peculiar 
nervous excitement, and twitching of his countenance, and 
animation of his whole frame, which led his audience to 
anticipate what was coming. He preached two discourses 
that day, which made those respectable 3'oung men who 
had pledged their patronage to the travelling theatre wish 
they had taken a sober second thought before doing so. 

Among outlines of discourses in his published works is 
one on the sinner's desperate depravit3^ The text is Jere- 
miah iii. 5 : ^'■Thou hast spoken and done evil things, as thou 
coiddst." The discourse is thus introduced: " This passage 
evidently teaches the doctrine that men are as depraved as 
they can be in present circximstances.'" The large compara- 
tive number of additions to the church during his brief min- 
istry here — one hundred and twenty-six in four years and 
four months — and, it may be added, the powerful revival 
which occurred here the next year after his dismission, 
must have been due, in no small degree, to the divine bless- 
ing upon his faithful preaching of the doctrine of man's 
sinfulness, and dependence upon the sovereign mere}' of 
God. Revivals attended and followed his labors elsewhere. 



MR. Clark's temperance labors. 109 

It was a time of powerful revivals in the country at 
large. It was a blessed time, indeed, in which to be an 
eminently talented and qualified preacher of the gospel, 
and in the prime of one's great ph3^sical and intellectual 
strength. 

Mr. Clark aimed deadly blows at intemperance, Sabbath- 
breaking, dancing, card-playing, covetousness. If there 
was an infidel-club in the town, he discovered it, and 
poured his hottest fire into it. Like Samson, he was willing 
to pull down the temple of Dagon upon himself as well as 
the Philistines, if, otherwise, he could not destroy them. 
The temperance reformation had just commenced in the 
country at the time Mr. Clark was settled here, and he 
threw himself, with his accustomed ardor, into that move- 
ment. He began here b}'' proposing to individuals to sign 
a pledge that they would, at the end of the 3- ear, report 
faithfully what amount of distilled liquor had been used in 
the famil}^ during the year. Many signers were obtained. 
Among the number, eight reported at the year's end they 
had used none ; others reported the quantit}'' tliey had 
used. We are amused at the report of one, whose figures 
went as high as ten gallons ; he said it was for bathing 
purposes. At the time of the second annual report of 
this association it was resolved to practise total abstinence 
from distilled spirit. That was some j-ears before the tem- 
perance reformation advanced to the point of abstinence 
from all intoxicating drinks. There were some earnest 
ones, who, at that meeting, anticipated the subsequent 
movement, and took a position in favor of including wine, 
beer, and cider, in the pledge. Mr. Clark thought it not 
then expedient, and reasoned as follows: "If wolves and 
bears were coming down in fury from your mountain sides 
to devour your flocks, would you stop to hunt out the rats 
and mice ? " 

10 



110 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

Many were the large orchards in that day ; and cider- 
mills, from early autumn until late in the winter, were 
busy night and day. And distilleries were not deficient, 
to which the hogsheads and barrels from the cider-press 
were constantly borne. These orchards were many of 
them cut down, under the powerful impulse of the temper- 
ance reformation. Mr. Clark also sought the promotion of 
intellectual improvement in schools, l3xeums, and espe- 
cially in the studj'^ of the word of God. The whole con- 
gregation was, at that time, engaged in Bible-class and 
Sabbath-school study during the intermission. His own 
success in preaching, and the great and multiplied revivals 
of those times, times in which Bible societies, Missionary 
societies, Temperance societies, and Sabbath schools were 
springing up as if by magic, on every hand, fired his ex- 
pectations of the speedy advent of the millennium, and 
stimulated his ardor to the highest pitch. Every man here 
almost was a representative man. All were accustomed to 
move on in their purposes with more than ordinary energy 
and persistency of will. There were, nevertheless, leading 
spirits. 

This place was, at that time, the scene of a remarkable 
competition between two rival seminaries of learning. The 
impulse of this competition drew crowds here from abroad 
to both schools ; among them many talented 3'outh. Ben- 
nington had once more become famous far and wide ; and 
the Rev. Daniel A. Clark, was, for the time, among other 
noted ones, the most noted personage. 

After all that has been said of Mr. Clark, in this short 
notice, it will not give surprise if it is added that he 
aroused much opposition against himself. His preaching 
and labors were the occasion of not a few in the commu- 
nity being "set at variance" (see Matt. x. 34, 35), not 
only from him but also from one another. 



THE VERDICT OF TIME. Ill 

Abruptness and severity of dealing with ungodly men 
was not unknown to the preaching of those times ; and Mr. 
Clark, self-trained to great terseness of expression, and by 
nature intense, sometimes manifested the fiei'ceness of the 
lion rather than the gentleness of the lamb. The following 
incident, occurring in Amherst, Mass., was related to the 
writer of these sketches. It is easy to believe such a 
story would lose nothing by repetition in passing through 
lips unfriendly to Mr. Clark ; still it is deemed proper to 
be given here as an illustration of the impression some 
of his labors made upon a portion of the comraunit}'. Ve- 
hement controvers}' between two persons in a blacksmith's 
shop was overheard by another person, sitting in the 
open chamber-window of an adjoining house ; and the 
person, thus an involuntary listener, went down to ascer- 
tain more definitely the character of the dispute, and 
found the two parties were the blacksmith, a profane man, 
and the Rev. Mr. Clark. Mr. Clark said to the black- 
smith, "You will be damned if you do not repent." The 
blacksmith, enraged, with so personal and severe an ap- 
plication of the gospel warning, retorted upon Mr. Clark 
the same threatening, in similar language, though with 
probably more of it. The listening part}^ returned to the 
house, and said, " The other man, no doubt, was swear- 
ing, and he should have said Mr. Clark was, also, if he had 
not known who he was." 

One of his successors in the pulpit of the Amherst church, 
speaking of Mr. Clark to the writer, said, " He was a 
preacher of magnificent sermons ; but he knew not how to 
take the kinks out of a Yankee's brain." It would seem, 
however, -that he knew how to take out the self-conceit, and 
some of the delusions out of the sinner's heart. It ravij be 
said, too, that, as time wears on, the words of censure of 
Mr. Clark become infrequent and faint, and his admirers 



112 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

speak their warm praises, with few, if any, to call in ques- 
tion the fitness of the eulogy. 

There was noticeable in him, as the infirmities of disease 
and a disabled frame gathered upon him, a rare childlike- 
ness and humility. 

He deceased at sixty-one years of age ; but his remark- 
able powers began to. give way under the influence of dis- 
ease some eight years previously ; so that his ministry in 
Adams, N. Y., where he was last installed, continued little 
over a year. " From that time he failed gradually, till God 
called him home." His disease was one of rare occurrence, 
— the ossification of the arteries of the brain. 

He was married June, 1812, at Portland, Maine, to Miss 
Eliza Barker, daughter of Dr. Jeremiah Barker, of Gorham. 
The offspring of this marriage are, James Henry Clark, 
M.D., Hon. Horace F. Clark, LL.D., Rev. Frederic G. Clark, 
D.D., Edward Clark, Esq., Mary, wife of Rev. Livingston 
Willard, and Sereno Clark. 

Vn. The Rev. Edward William Hooker, D.D., was 
born in Goshen, Conn., Nov. 24, 1794. By his paternal 
ancestry, he traces his descent back (seven or eiglit gener- 
ations) to the Rev. Thomas Hooker, that " light of the 
New England churches, and oracle of the colony of Con- 
necticut ; " the Puritan father, who, with others of like re- 
ligious character and aims, came to this country from Eng- 
land in 1633 ; first settled at Newtown, now Cambridge, 
Mass. ; and in 1636 removed to Hartford, Conn., and was 
one of the founders of the first Connecticut churches, and 
pastor of the first cliurch in Connecticut, that noAvthe First 
Congregational Church of Hartford. ^ By his maternal an- 

1 In the life of Thomas Hooker (by Dr. Hooker), in tlie Appendix, are the names 
of forty-two ministers of the gospel descended from him, and of forty-one mar- 
ried to Iiis fomale descendants, — among them some of the brightest lights of the 
American pulpit. 



LABORS OF Dn. HOOKER. 113 

cestry, Dr. Hooker is descended from the Elder President 
Jonathan Edwards. 

Dr. Hooker was fitted for college at Goshen Academy, 
and Addison County Grammar School ; graduated at Mid- 
dlebury College in 1814 ; studied theology at Andover 
1814-18 ; was pastor of the Congregational Church in 
Green's Farms, Fairfield, Conn., 1821-29 ; associate gen- 
eral agent of the American Temperance .Society, and editor 
of the "Journal of Humanity," 1829-31; pastor of the 
First Church in Bennington, 1832-44 ; Professor of Sacred 
Rhetoric and Ecclesiastical History in the Theological In- 
stitute of Connecticut, at East AVindsor, 1844-48 ; pastor 
of the Congregational Church, South AVindsor, Conn., 1848- 
(the date to which is not given) ; pastor inFair Haven, Vt., 
1856-62 ; since which time he has resided with his son, Rev. 
E. C. Hooker, at Newburyport, Mass., and at Nashua, N. H. 

Dr. Hooker has published several sermons and pam- 
phlets, and, at least, two thick volumes, — one the life of 
Thomas Hooker, the other memoirs of Mrs. Sarah Lanman 
Smith, and has also contributed, with more or less fre- 
quenc}', articles to the periodical press. With an intellect 
of superior excellence, having extensive knowledge of men 
and individuals at home and abroad, and wielding a racy 
and vigorous pen, he has possessed peculiar talents for 
w-riting for the press. But his heart has ever clung to the 
preaching of " the glorions gospel of the blessed God" as his 
great life-work. Loving the evangelical and Calvinistic 
doctrines, and zealous for the faith once delivered to the 
saints, he has uttered no uncertain sound, and occupied no 
doubtful position as a preacher of Christ and him crucified. 
And a life-long example of high-toned Christian courtesy 
and conscientious Christian circumspection has added 
weight to his words. 

His was one of the longer of the Bennington pastorates, — 
10* 



114 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

twelve and a half years ; and probably none of the ex-pastors 
of this parish have gone away with warmer attachment to 
them of families left behind than has continued to exist be- 
tween the Rev. Dr. Hooker and some families of his old Ben- 
nington pastorate. Manj^ were added to the church during 
his ministry here; one year — that of 1834 — the number 
rose as high as ninety. He was here in an important period 
of the history of the church and the town, and enjoyed rela- 
tions of mutual respect and friendly intercourse with leading 
members of the church and community, and is therefore 
eminently fitted to furnish valuable reminiscences of the 
times of his residence here ; and it is hoped he will not 
fail to do so. 

His first wife was Miss Faith Trumbull Huntington, of 
Norwich, Conn., daughter of Jabez Huntington, Esq., and 
grand-daughter of Gen. Jedidiah Huntington, of New Lon- 
don, Conn. ; and, on her mother's side, in the line of the 
Trumbull family, tracing her ancestry back to William 
Robinson, who came from England to Dorchester, Mass., 
in 1641, and is believed to be a descendant of the vener- 
able Puritan, John Robinson, of Ley den. 

The children of this marriage are : Mary Lanman, wife 
of the Rev. Anson Clark ; Faith Huntington, wife of the 
Rev. E. J. Montague; Elizabeth Peck, deceased in 1841, 
at the age of twenty-two, — all of whom became members 
of the Bennington church ; the Rev. Elias Cornelius Hook- 
er, Miss Sarah Huntington Hooker, and the Rev. Edward 
Trumbull Hooker, — these last three, natives of Ben- 
nington. 

Dr. Hooker's second wife was Mrs. Elizabeth Shelden 
Lyman, of Tro}^, New York, sister-in-law of our Deacon 
George Lyman ; she died in Fairhaven, Vermont, in 1856. 
His present wife was Miss Lucy Bagley, of Newburyport, 
Massachusetts. 



OTHER BENNINGTON PASTORS. 115 

Note. — In introducing notices of two living pastors, tlie writer 
has felt he was executing a delicate task. He would not have done 
so but for the fact that the lapse of years has already separated 
their labors in Bennington to quite a distance from the present. 
With regard to the remaining ex-pastors of this church, and the 
pastors of the other churches in the town, the time of their labors 
here falling into the more recent past, is the writer's apology for 
omitting any other than the briefest statistical mention of them, 
which will be found elsewhere. 




CHAPTER IX. 

TRANSIENT MINISTERS. 

)HE Rev. Mr. Burton. — In the interval be- 
tween the pastorates of the Rev. Mr. Avery and 
the Rev. Job Swift, D.D., there was a revival un- 
der the labors of the Rev. Messrs. Wood and Bur- 
ton. It is belieA^ed, though upon what evidence 
can scarcely be stated, that tlie Mr. Burton was the 
Rev. Asa Burton, afterward distinguished as the Rev. Dr. 
Burton, of Thetford, in this State, author of the " Taste 
Scheme in Divinity," and instructor of many students in 
theology. He was at that time the j'ouiig pastor of Thet- 
ford. He was a close reasoner, and a difficult antagonist 
in controversy. The following characteristic anecdote has 
been told of him. Some people, called Christ-ians, set up a 
Sabbath evening meeting in a school-house in one corner of 
his parish, the town of Thetford, and it was the custom of 
their preacher to give opportunity after his sermon to any 
who might desire it to ask questions. These new-comers 
were esteemed to be not sound in divinity. Dr. Burton 
thought it his duty to attend their meetings and hear 
for himself. He did so, and when the opportunity was 
given to ask questions, he plied the stranger with such diffi- 
cult ones as caused him to cease holding any more meetings 
in that town. 

Father Marshall has alread}' been mentioned as a Con- 
necticut Separate pastor, who was accustomed frequentl}^ to 



ANECDOTES OF FATHER MARSHALL. 117 

pass this way. He is described as possessing ardent piety, 
but marked by eccentricity. A biographical slietch of him 
in the "Vermont Evangelical Magazine" for July, August, 
1815, contains a graphic account in brief of his character 
and life ; also affords a glimpse of the Separates of Father 
Marshall's time. He was, when a lad, brought under deep 
conviction of sin, which ofttimes returned upon him with 
great power after he obtained a Christian hope. His zeal 
in warning the impenitent and the lukewarm would brook 
no restraints, whether as an exhorter, being yet a stripling, 
or as a Separate minister, which he became a considerable 
time before his twentieth year. For violating the new laws 
against exhorting in other ministers' parishes, or the preva- 
lent notions of propriety, — exhorting in season and out of 
season, — he was arrested, tried, set in the stocks, bound 
out to a farmer two months to pay the costs of prosecution ; 
tried again, and for a time confined in Hartford jail. He 
was twice settled, — his longest pastorate being over the 
Separate church in Canterbur^^, Conn. When nearly seventy 
years of age he removed to Starksborough, in this State. 
He preached temporarily in Weybridge, Hinesburgh, and 
Westfield. When at home he regularly preached to the 
people in Starksborough until it became impossible for him 
to do so any longer because of the infirmities of advanced 
age. He often performed the devotional part of public 
worship until within a few weeks of his death, which took 
place at Starksborough Feb. 20, 1813, in the eighty-second 
year of his age. 

Many anecdotes are told of him, of which three or four 
shall be given here. He tried for a time to conform to the 
demand for written sermons, but did so with an ill grace. 
On one occasion his little notes had got forward gradually 
to the outer edge of the pulpit-desk until they slipped off. 
He started back, and said, " There, go with yo\xx fetters ! " 



118 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

Once preaching here with great earnestness, he cried out, 
" Where is Governor Moses Robinson's pietj', and where is 
old Esquire Samuel Robinson's piety ? " — meaning. Is their 
piety reproduced in those who ought to imitate their good 
examples? At another time preaching here, he looked out 
of the window which was back of the pulpit and saw men 
harvesting grain on the Sabbath. The subject of his dis- 
course was, "The Claims of God." Pointing backward to 
the men in the field, he said, " Bennington sinners can trust 
God to send them rain and sunshine, and ripen their crops 
for them ; but they cannot trust him, after the grain is ripe, 
to keep it for them twenty-four hours while the}' shall keep 
the Sabbath for him." Once when he was. a guest at the 
elder Mrs. Samuel Robinson's, she lamented to him the loss 
of some religious privilege, occasioned by their removing 
from Massachusetts to this then wilderness. Father Mar- 
shall remembered her state of mind, with his wonted par- 
ticularity, in his prayer at family worship, " that she might 
have grace to be more thankful for the mercies she still 
enjoyed, and not hanker so much for the flesh-pots of 
Egypt." It is related that she was never again heard to 
complain in that manner. 

There is an anecdote relating to the " Oracles of Reason," 
an atheistical book of Ethan Allen, — the edition of which 
was consumed in the burning of the printing-office, — which 
has been, and not without appearance of truth, ascribed to 
Mr. Marshall. He was, so it is related, a guest for the 
night of Ethan Allen, and in the morning was duly called 
upon to attend prayers in the family. Such were the cus- 
toms of hospitalit}' of the place in those days. Col. Allen 
handed him his " Oracles of Reason," saying, " This is my 
bible. I suppose you have no objections to read out of my 
bible." His reverend guest replied, " Let us sing a few 
verses first ; have you any objection to the common psalm- 



REV. JOSHUA SPAULDING. 119 

book?" — "Not at all," said the host. Mr. Marshall, 
taking u]3 the psalm-book which lay upon the table, select- 
ed, and proceeded to read, the psalm commencing with this 
stanza : — 

" Let all the heathen writers joiu 
To form one perfect book, — 
Great God, if once compared with thine. 
How mean their writings look ! " 

Allen, who, notwithstanding his infidelity, was charac- 
terized by great cordiality and frankness, interrupted him, 
and said, " Floored, Father Marshall ; take 3'our own 
Bible." 

. Father Marshall would be requested sometimes by the 
Baptists, when they were without a suppl}^, to preach for 
them, and even to administer the communion, though it 
was not expected that he would himself commune. On one 
such occasion, a piece of the bread fell from the table to 
the floor ; he picked it up, and ate it, saying, " The dogs 
eat of the crumbs that fall from the master's table." 

The Rev. Joshua Spaulding. — At a society's meeting, 
Dec. 13, 1804, a call was voted to the Rev. J. Spaulding, 
and a committee appointed to wait on him and inform him 
of the same. His answer is not on record. He was never 
settled here. He had preached here, it is said, for a year 
or more, just previously. This was immediately subse- 
quent to his dismissal from the Tabernacle Church, in Sa- 
lem, Mass., April 23, 1802, 1 and prior to his settlement 
over the Branch (now Howard Street) Church, in the same 
city. He was here during the revival of 1802-3. He is 
stated to have said that he had had a part in forty revivals. 

1 A printed farewell discourse of his, delivered at Salem, Mass., is advertised 
for sale in the " Vermont Gazette " of that day. 



120 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY, . 

He was in the earl^^ part of his ministry stj'led a New-Liglit 
preacher. A two-volume treatise of his on Divinity is in 
print ; also lectures on the coming of the Kingdom of Christ. 
He also compiled a hymn-book, which was published at 
Salem soon after his visit to this place. He was a mil- 
lenarian. An interesting manuscript correspondence has 
been preserved, and is in the possession of G. W. Robin- 
son, between Mr. Spauldiug and others, and also between 
him and Judge Jonathan Robinson, on the second coming 
of Christ.^ He was blessed greatly as pastor in building 
up the Tabernacle Church in Salem, and in promoting 
purity of church discipline and spirituality .2 

He preached with great warmth and power. In Miss 
Read's narrative, as before noticed, after speaking of his 
singular unction, and elevation of countenance and manner 
in illustrating the righteousness of Christ, so as to bring 
forcibly to her mind the text, " How beautiful upon the 
mountains," etc., she says, upon a subsequent page, "The 
next day Mr. Spaulding preached in a most terrific man- 
ner. He showed forth the terribleness of Christ's coming 
to judgment, and treated of the confusion and dismay of 
his enemies at his glorious appearing." 

He was a democrat in politics, and accustomed to speak 
and write his political sentiments with the same pointed- 
ness and freedom that he did those of divinity.^ 

Mr. Spaulding, while here, with his daughter, which was 
all the family he had at the time, enjoyed the large-hearted 
hospitality of Capt. Elijah Dewey. 

1 There appears to have been a considerable interest here and in the vicinity, 
in those times, in the Scripture prophecies. A printed sermon is at hand, by 
the Rev. John Griswold, pastor of the church in Pawlet, preaclied in ISOi, and 
published at Bennington (Haswell and Smead), from Rev. xi. 10, taking the 
view that the" two witnesses" signitied the two offices of the magistracy and 
the ministry. 

2,3 A discourse on the First Centennial of the Tabernacle Church, Salem, 
Mass., by Samuel M. Worcester, M.A., pastor of the church. 



EEV. JEDIDIAH BUSHNELL. 121 

The Rev. Jedidiah Bushnell is remembered, by some of 
the old inhabitants in this town, as a Vermont minister, 
quaint, but able, and very much respected, and very use- 
ful.- He was a classmate in Williams College, of David 
Robinson, Jr., Esq., and visited him while travelling 
through this part of the country with an invalid son. 
Returning home, and gratefully remembering the hospital- 
ity of his friend and classmate, he wrote an affectionate 
and faithful letter to Capt. Robinson, on the siibject of his 
personal salvation. Capt. Robinson always esteemed this 
letter as a true expression of friendship, and a beautiful 
act of Christian fidelity, and to his dying day used to show 
the letter. It was, some few years since, at his request, 
printed in the " Vermont Chronicle." The following anec- 
dote of Father Bushnell used to be related by the Rev. 
N. Hewitt, D.D., of Bridgeport, Conn. Mr. Hewitt, then 
a young preacher, happened, with his wife and first-born 
child, then an infant, to be in the company of Father 
Bushnell, who kindly noticed the child. Mrs. Hewitt 
made the remark, "Mr. Bushnell, I am afraid I shall love 
this child too much." 

" No ! no ! madam," said Father Bushnell, " you can- 
not love it too much, if you will only love God a great 
deal more." 

A recipe, that he once gave to Mr. and Mrs. P. M. 
Henry, at the outset of their married life, is worth pre- 
serving ; it is as follows : — 

"To Mrs. Henry. — 'Do you wish to know how to make Mr. 
Henry to be a good husband? ' 

"'Yes.' 

" 'Be a good wife.' 

"To Mr. Henry. — 'Do you wish to know how to make Mrs. 
Henry to be a good wife ? ' 

" ' Yes.' 

" ' Be a good husband.' " 
11 



122 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

The Rev. Lemuel Haynes, the noted colored preacher, 
has been mentioned in the biographical notice of the Rev. 
Job Swift, D.D., as in that day one of the ministers of this 
region. It is related of him that, while a pastor in Man- 
chester, he was called to preach a funeral sermon in this 
town, and introduced the sermon by saying, " If my hear- 
ers expect me to dwell upon the faults of the deceased, 
they will be disappointed ; and if they expect me to dwell 
upon the virtues of the deceased, they will be disap- 
pointed ; for I am not here to preach to the dead, but to 
the living." 

There was a severe drouth in this town, and in the time 
of it came the day appointed for the ordination and in- 
stallation of the Rev. Absalom Peters, then the youthful 
pastor-elect of this church and societ3^ The venerable 
Mr. Haj'nes was pi'esent, and had assigned to him, as 
his part in the public exercises, the concluding prayer. 

There were other able divines to perform the more con- 
spicuous and weighty duties of the occasion, but a hearer ^ 
related to me that Mr. Haynes' concluding prayer was the 
particular part of the exercises that he retained a vivid 
impression of. Mr. Haynes made impressive remembrance 
in his prayer of the retiring pastor (Mr. Marsh), — of 
whom, doubtless without intention, the preceding speak- 
ers had omitted to make mention ; also, he earnestly sup- 
plicated that the long-continued and distressing drouth 
might come to a speedy end. His words, as related by 
another hearer ^ were, "0 God, wilt thou unstop thy bot- 
tles, and pour the waters upon the earth ? " It began to 
sprinkle a little as the meeting was dismissed, and soon 
came the much-desired plentiful rain. . On returning from 
the ordination exercises, Mr. Samuel Fay, at whose house 
he put up, and who was accustomed to relate this anecdote, 

1 Gov. Hall. 2 Mr. Samuel Fay. 



REV. EDWARD D. GRIFFIN, D.D. 153 

said to him : " "Well, Mr. Hajmes, your prayer was an- 
swered." — "I thought it would be," was Mr. Haynes' 
laconic reply. 

Another gentleman ^ recollects the following expressions 
of Mr. Haynes : In prayer, " O Lord, we are so selfish 
we spoil everything we do ; " in a sermon, speaking of the 
power of temptation, and the distinction between tempta- 
tions that are sinful and those that are not, "I acknowl- 
edge you cannot prevent a temptation entering j^our mind, 
at all times. Neither could you always prevent a bird fly- 
ing down unawares upon your head, but you could prevent 
its making a nest in your hair." 

The Rev. Edward Dorr Griffin, D.D., is remembered 
as one of the distinguished ministers who have occasionally 
occupied the pulpit of the Bennington First Church. His 
commanding form — being some six feet, seven inches in 
height, and of well-proportioned stoutness — need not be 
here particularly described. Pleasant anecdotes are related 
of his being duly mindful, upon his arrival in town to ex- 
change, or to fulfil some special ministerial appointment, 
that in the respect mentioned he was not an ordinary man. 
Upon reaching the house where he was to be entertained, 
he was accustomed to see, first, that the faithful beast who 
had borne him hither was well cared for ; secondly, that 
the place in the pulpit from which he was to deliver his dis- 
course — that is, where the manuscript was to be placed — 
was, by such contrivances as could be extemporized, suffi- 
ciently elevated ; thirdly, that the bed upon which he was 
to repose for the night was suitably supplemented, so as to 
be long enough for so tall a man to stretch himself upon it 
without discomfort, — for all which attentions he would 

1 Mr. Seth B. Hunt. 



124 MEMOniALS OF A CENTURY. 

return graceful acknowledgments with a dignity peculiar to 
himself. 

But when once in the pulpit, and engaged in his favorite 
work of preaching " the glorious gospel of the blessed 
God," who else could equal the majestic eloquence of Dr. 
Griffin? Of two or three excellent anecdotes illustrative 
of this, related to the writer of this notice, one shall suffice. 
It shall be given in nearly the same words of the friend 
who related it.i Let him be, as it were, heard to speak : 
" In the fall of 1830, a most beautiful day in October, news 
came that Alonzo B. Stiles was dead. Men stood appalled 
at the suddenness of such an event ; and one would say to 
another, ' Is Stiles dead ? It is impossible ! ' But so it 
was. He had undertaken to drive a pair of high-spirited 
horses tandem; something gave away, he was thrown out, 
his head striking upon a rock, and killed. If not killed 
instantly, there was no consciousness after the blow. He 
was a young man of singular beaut}^, very accomplished, 
and very much admired, and had many friends. He was 
in the employment of the ' Old Furnace Company.' We 
had no settled pastor. His friends, and particularly the 
proprietors of the ' Furnace,' sent down for Dr. Griffin 
to preach the sermon. They appointed Sundaj'^ as the day, 
and as three or four daj's intervened there was ample time 
to spread the notice. Many from the adjoining towns were 
accustomed to have business at the ' Furnace,' and they 
knew Stiles ; they all came. The meeting-house was crowd- 
ed. Dr. Griffin took his text from Ecc. ix. 12 : 'For man 
also hioweth not his time.' The sermon was preached to 
the young. The lesson which he inculcated was. The duty 
and importance of youth preparing for death. As the ser- 
mon drew near its close, leaning his towering form over 
that old pulpit, — he had a way of lifting very gracefully 

1 Mr. Aaron L. Hubbell. 



^xV IMPRESSIVE APPEAL. 125 

his glasses, — leaning ov-er the desk, he said : ' My dear 
young friends, procrastination is a rock around ichich the 
hones of sliipiorecked millions are whitening for eternity!' 
As he spoke so impressively upon the subject of prepara- 
tion for death, its duty and importance, it was astonish- 
ing to see the countenances of, the audience. I sat with 
m}' back to the minister — ' the old square pews — and 
looking a large portion of the audience in the face. I have 
often thought, I have no doubt that manj' then and there 
full}^ resolved to lead a Christian life. 

" That death seemed to make a great impression upon the 
young people ; and there was seriousness all that winter. 
Along in June of the succeeding spring it Avas resolved to 
hold a three-days' meeting." The summer of 1831 will be 
remembered as the season of one of the two greatest revi- 
vals in the annals of this church. 

The grave of Stiles is in the church-yard. On the slab 'is 
this inscription: "In memory of Alonzo B. Stiles, son of 
James and Abigail Stiles. Born at Cavendish, Vermont, 
September 9th, 1805 ; died in this town (in consequence of 
being thrown from a wagon), October 14th, 1830, aged 25 
years 1 month and 5 days." 
11* 




CHAPTER X. 

THE LAND-TllTl^ CONTROVERSY. 

T the time our first settlers purchased their lands 
in this town, probably they had no intimation that 
any claims would or could be advanced prejudicial 
to their titles as derived through the Governor and 
Council of New Hampshire. " A claim of New 
York had been asserted to Governor Wentworth by 
letter from Governor Clinton in 1750, .... but the 
correspondence which had taken place between tlie two 
governors does not appear to have been published, and 
was wholly unknown to the settlers." ^ The pretext laid 
hold of by interested parties for claiming jurisdiction for 
the Province of New York as far eastward as Connecticut 
River, was an "untenable" charter granted by King 
Charles II. to his brother, the Duke of York, in 1664. 
*' Prior to the proclamation of Governor Colden," Dec. 28, 
1763, " setting forth the claim of New York to extend to 
the Connecticut River by virtue of this charter, one hundred 
and twenty-four of the one hundred and thirty land patents 
granted by Governor "Wentworth had been issued, only six 
of the whole number bearing date after Dec, 1763." ^ Our 
Bennington settlers, and others, had already made valu- 
able improvements upon their lands when this proclamation 
took them by surprise. 

"That prior to the king's order of July, 1764, New York had 
never for a single moment exercised jurisdiction to any part of 

1 HaU's Early Hist. Vermont, p. 76. 2 ibid. 



CHARTER TO THE DUKE OF YORK. ' 127 

Comiecticut River; that New Hampshire had been repeatedly rec- 
ognized by the king and his ministry as extending westward to 
Lake Champlain, and to a line running southerly from that lake 
to the north-west corner of Massachusetts, the present boundary 
of Vermont ; that in all the English and American maps of that 
period — and they are numerous — New York is represented as 
bounded on the east by the last-mentioned line, and that such line 
was universally understood, both in Old ancl New England, to be 
the boundaries between the provinces of New Hampshire and New 
York." 1 

As to the charter granted by King Charles II. to his 
brother the Duke of York, in 1664, it was well charac- 
terized by Williams in his history of Vermont as an in- 
adequate and blundering transaction. In evident igno- 
rance of the premises, and without any attempt at exact- 
ness, it really gave the Connecticut River as an eastern 
boundary, and the east side of Delaware Bay as a western 
boundary, within which the Duke of York could take what 
was not already chartered away. Otherwise it would also 
have given to the Duke of York portions of Massachusetts 
and Connecticut ; but these States never allowed this charter 
to deprive them of a square rod of their territory. It also, 
for other reasons, had no validity in law against the set- 
tlers on the New Hampshire Grants. 

^^Ml the lands from the west side of Connecticut Biver to the east side 
of Delaware Bay" " This grant was inconsistent with the charters 
which had before been granted to Massachusetts and Connecticut ; 
and neither of them admitted it to have any effect with regard 
to the lands which they had settled or claimed to the west of 
Connecticut River; and there were no principles which apply to 
human affairs by which this grant would bear a strict examina- 
tion. If it be examined geographically, the bounds of it were 
contradictory, indefinite, and impossible. If it be subjected to 
a legal construction, the whole of it, upon James's accession 
to the throne, merged in the crown ; and at his abdication passed 

1 Vermont Hist. Mag., p. 146. 



128 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

to William, his successor. If it be considered as an instrument 
of government, it did not establish any colony or province of New 
York, or any power to govern any such province." ' 

That, however, which made the New York pretext much 
more formidable was the order in council, referred to in the 
above quotation, obtained by the New York interest from 
King George II., iinder date of 1764. 

As to this order in council, it was extensively believed, 
though probably without foundation, to have been obtained 
by applications falsely represented to be in the name of the 
inhabitants of the grants.^ 

But this order in council was interpreted by the settlers 
as simply decreeing ji-rospective jurisdiction to New York as 
far east as Connecticut River. This the king had a right to 
do ; as, in chartering these provinces of New York and 
New Hampshire, the right of altering the boundaries of 
jurisdiction was reserved to the crown. Had the New 
York officers so interpreted the king's order, probably all 
controversy would have been at an end. The settlers were 
not disposed to revolt against the jurisdiction of New York 
upon such an interpretation of the order in council, though 
such jurisdiction was not agreeable to them.^ Certainly they at 
first appear to have had no thought of resisting it by force. 

1 Williams's Hist, of Vermont, p. 213. See also Answer of Ethan Allen to 
Governor CUnton's Proclamation, State Papers, pp. 85-9.3; and Early Hist, of 
Vermont. 

2 AVilliams's History of Vermont, 1794, p. 215. In a note on this page : " The 
inhabitants complained that a petition was presented to the king, signed with 
their names, but unknown to them." In their first petition to Congress (see 
State Papers, p. 02), Jan. 7, 1770, they give this account of this petition to the 
king. "We have often heard, and verily believe, it was in your petitioner's 
names." On the subject of the surreptitious names to tliat petition to the king, 
see also an article from the " Connecticut Courant," April, 1772, cited in Mr. 
Houghton's published address, delivered in Montpelier,Oct. 20, 1848. 

3 " The petition of Mr. Ilobinson, in behalf of his constituents, to the king 
liad not only asked for relief against New York patents, but also to have the 
jurisdiction of the territory restored to New Hampshire." — P. 98, of Hall's Early 
Hist. Vermont. 



RESISTANCE TO THE NEW YORK CLAIMS. 129 

But the New York governmeht were not satisfied with 
an immediately commencing jurisdiction, and with such 
emoluments as might arise from lands not previously sold ; 
the}' insisted on their right to all the lands that had pre- 
viously been sold in the territory in question by the New 
Hampshire government, and to retrospective jurisdiction, 
and, of course, to satisfaction and due punishment of of- 
fenders for all acts in the past that had been committed in 
violation of their claimed authority. 

"By the principles of the English constitution, the lands in both 
New York and New Hampshire were vested in the king, both being 
royal provinces. Their boundaries, also, might be fixed and changed 
by him at pleasure. It could not be material to him or to the public 
through which of his servants his grants were made, and it would 
be diflicult to find a reason why a grant obtained in good faith 
from the government of one province should be declared void 
merely because the land, by the subsequent settlement of a dis- 
puted boundarj^ should happen to fall within the newly established 
jurisdiction of the other." — Early Hist, of Vermont, p. 119. With 
regard to the legality also, see pp. 119, 120. 

The settlers here resisted this claim with indomitable 
determination and spirit. Matters continued to wax more 
serious until they were resolved that all the claims of New 
York, both to retrospective and pi'ospective jurisdiction, 
should be resisted to the end. The result was, they came 
ere long to the determination to have an independent State ; 
and they pursued this determination with a purpose and 
vigor which, under the circumstances, were natural, if not 
at all times legal. But that they had law and equity on 
their side in the main, there are many substantial reasons 
for believing. So Gov. Wentworth appears to have 
thought, for he reconfirmed their course by a new royal 
proclamation under date of March 13, 1764, counter to 
Go\. Colden's. That the king was displeased with the 
course of the New York government in respect to the Ver- 



130 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

mont lands is evident froin the fact that, notwithstanding 
the preponderating influence of that interest at court, 
Samuel Robinson, Esq., the agent of the settlers, without 
prestige and without money, obtained an order in council 
of his Majesty, of Jul}^ 24, 1767, prohibiting the Governor 
of New York, 

" Upon pain of his Majesty's highest displeasure, from making 
any further grants whatever of the lands in question, till his Maj- 
esty's further pleasure should be known concerning the same." ' 

Whether the settlers were able to fathom all the depths 
of the subject-matters in controversy, or not, one has but 
to read Gov. Hall's volume — so large a portion of wliich 
is devoted to the exhaustive examination of its merits — to 
see that the New York claim cannot bear the test of such 
an examination either in law or equity. Not to attempt 
any extended consideration of the question here, two or 
three arguments of more obvious force to the minds of the 
settlers may be stated, and reference is here more particu- 
larly made to the Bennington settlers, because it is of them 
this volume more particularly speaks. 

Their utter surprise at Gov. Colden's first proclamation 
claiming their lands has been already alluded to. This sur- 
prise overtook them after they were well settled here, hud 
made many valuable inprovements on their lands, having 
first bought them in good faith, paying what was to them a 
large price, for their means were generally scanty and they 
had made great exertions and endured much hardship to 
open to civilization and to plant with Christian institutions 
this wilderness. These lands along their Green Mountain 

1 See Slade's Vermont State Papers, p. 20. That this order in council of his 
Majesty was constantly and in a liigh-handed manner disregarded by tlie New 
York officials, and as constantly and earnestly recalled to their attention by the 
home government, see Hall's Early Hist. Vermont, pp. 94, oy, 105, 100, 108, 
and elsewhere. 



LOGIC OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 131 

valleys were, with God's blessing, upon their sturdy exertions 
and sacrifices, putting forth signs of prosperity, progress, and 
wealth. Now all was to be swept awa}' from them. They 
were to be left destitute, penniless ;^ and, more than this, 
their prospects for the future were an utter blank. They 
would not know which way next to turn. Let it be borne in 
mind they were already a numerous and powerful com- 
muuit3^ By that law of necessity which inheres in man's 
dependence, to a certain extent, with his choices and God's 
providence combined, upon the destiny he has already en- 
tered upon, they were compelled to accept as a logical con- 
clusion the justice and expediency of revolt against the 
jurisdidtion of New York, whatever that jurisdiction was as 
determined upon in the king's order of 1764. They did 
not accept this alternative until compelled to do so by a 
course of events which told them instinctively they could not 
err in so doing. They felt that justice on their side must 
be at the foundation of their cause. The lands under New 
Hampshire had been chartered in townships to numerous per- 
sons, holding some three hundred and thirty acres each. 
The New York patents were emploj^ed to place oftentimes 
whole townships and even more in the possession of spec- 
ulators, and fees in proportion into the pockets of officials. 
The covetousness with which the New York officials and 
speculators eyed the rich alluvials of the Green Mountain 
tributaries to the Hudson knew no bounds. 

Some few statistics, which bear upon this point, may be 
noticed. Twenty-six thousand acres on the Battenkill, to 
John Taber Kempe, attorney -general of the New York prov- 
ince, James Duane, a prominent New Yoi'k city lawyer, and 
Walter Rutherford, a merchant speculator. To said Duane, 

1 " And when the latter," the New Hampshire claimants, " applied to the New 
York governors for a confirmation of those not thus granted, such enormous 
patent fees were demanded as to make it impossible for them to comply." — 
Early Hist, of Vermont, p. 115. 



132 MEMORIALS OF A CENTUItT. 

afterward, fifty thousand acres more. Dunmore, colonial 
New York governor for eight months, contrived surrepti- 
tiously to make to himself a grant of fift5''-one thousand 
acres of Vermont land, besides granting four hundred and 
fifty thousand acres to speculators, and getting the fees for 
the same. Tryon, his successor, provided himself, in like 
manner, with a township in Vermont of thirty-two thou- 
sand acres, besides making grants, and getting fees for the 
same, contrary to law, of two hundred thousand more. 
Afterward this Tryon was absent from his post for a little 
more than a year, and Lieutenant-Governor Golden filled 
his place. He at this time issued patents for about four 
hundred thousand acres of Vermont land, — fees to himself, 
not less than ten thousand dollars. " The whole quantity 
of Vermont land patented b}^ New York up to the period 
of the Revolution, besides tliat embraced in confirmatory 
charters, exceeded two millions of acres, more than three 
quarters of which had been granted in direct violation of 
the king's order of July, 1767, and of the 49th article of 
the standing instructions of the crown." ^ Governor Golden, 
during one of the periods of his administration, which 
lasted little more than a year, by hurrying such land pat- 
ents through his office, pocketed in patent fees twenty-five 
thousand dollars. 

The New Y''ork provincial government was aristocratic 
in feeling and policy. It declared such sympathies at court 
— strongly siding with the king, against the republican 
character of the settlers on the grants, as matters were tend- 
ing to a rupture with the mother country. Parties in 
the interest of the New York speculations upon the grants, 
contemptuousl}^ stigmatized the settlers as " fierce republi- 
cans," denounced across the water their " illiberal opinions 
and manners as extremely off"ensive to all loyal subjects of 

1 Vermont Hist. Mag. 



arbithary measures of new york. 133 

the king." Had the New York jurisdiction, and the policy 
which the New York provincial government seemed deter- 
mined to indissolubly wed with it, not been resisted, they 
would have established their lordly manors here, and become 
patroons of the Walloomsac and the Battenkill. 

" All the officers from the highest to the lowest, — from the 
judges of the Supi'eme Court^down to constables aud superinten- 
dents of highways, were appointed, either directly or indirectly, 
by the central executive authority in New York city. The town 
meeting, that school and nursery of republican equality, in which 
the men of New England had been accustomed to elect all inferior 
officers, aud to consult and legislate upon their local aflairs, was 
an institution hardly known in that province." ' 

The measures by which the New York officials sought to 
accomplish their scheme were of the most arbitrary descrip- 
tion. They divided the New Hampshire Grants into 
counties, and appointed county officers ; sent men to survey 
the lands of the territory in question. 

There was a long story of writs and trials of ejectment. 

" If we do not oppose the sheriff and his posse he will take im- 
mediate possession of our houses and farms ; if we do we are im- 
mediately indicted as rioters ; and when others oppose officers in 
taking such, their friends so indicted, they are also indicted, and 
so on, there being no end of indictments against us so long as we 
act the bold and manly part, and stand by our liberty." - 

1 Vermont Hisl. Mag. 

2 Letter of Ethan Allen and others to Governor Tryon ; see State Papers, 24-29. 
" Silas Robinson is believed to have been the only settler in the Grants whom 

the Yorkers, as they were styled, were ever able to arrest and punish as a rioter, 
though great numbers were accused and indicted as such." He " resided on 
the main road about two miles north of the Bennington village, at the place 
now occupied by Stephen Robinson. Early in the morning of the 2yth of Novem- 
ber, the sheriff (Ten Eyck) and his party (John Munro and others) went to his 
house, and coming upon him when he was off his guard succeeded in taking him 
prisoner ; and by returning with great speed, before notice could be given to his 
neighbors, they were enabled to carry him off to Albany, where he was detained 
in jail until released on bail the following October." — Vermont Hist. Mag. 
12 



134 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

These ejectment trials were appointed to be held in Al- 
bany. i In them the question of the validity of the New 
Hampshire charters was not allowed to be discussed ; the 
charters were not alloAved to be read to the jury. They 
were at the outset authoritatively judged to be null and 
void. The Vermont communities were pronounced to be a 
mob. In 1774 the government of New Yorlt passed an act 
of outlawry, " the most minatory and despotic of any- 
thing that had appeared in the British colonies," ^ against 
those who had resisted the attempt to dispossess the set- 
tlers of the lands they had occupied and improved under 
grants from the New Hampshire government. All crimes 
committed on the Grants were, by a statute of the General 
Assembly of New York, subject to be tried in the county 
and by the courts at Albany. At the same time a procla- 
mation was issued by the Governor of of New York, offer- 
ing a reward of fifty pounds a head for apprehending and 
securing Ethan Allen, Seth Warner, and six others of the 
most obnoxious of the settlers. 

To satisfy New York those who had bought and settled 
upon and improved lands under grants from the govern- 
ment of New Hampshire, must buy them over again 
from the Governor of New York, or from the speculators 
he had sold them to, at prices many times 'over more than 
they had paid for the original purchase. The fees to the 
Governor of New Hampshire for grants of townships were 
about one hundred dollars ; under the government of New 
York they generally amounted to two thousand, or two 



1 " The integrity, too, of the court in the above-named decisions (Albany 
trials of ejectment) may be questioned. " — Early Hist. Vermont, pp. I'^O, 121. 

2 Williams. — " An act which for its savage barbarity is probably without a 
parallel in the legislation of any civilized country." — Early Hist. Vermont, p. 
180. See a full account of the act, and the responses it provoked on the part of 
the Green Mountain Boys. —lb., pp. 180-18G. See, also, Slade's Vermont State 
Papers, p. 48. 



FEELING IN EAST VEIiMONT. 135 

thousand and six hundred dollars. In instances not un- 
common their possessions had been sold away to new pur- 
chasers by the New York officials before the occupants 
under the New Hampshire charters had time to rebu}' them 
themselves of New York, if they would. 

In addition to all this, there were for a time numbers of 
individuals and combinations of men on the east side of 
the Green Mountains, who lent their s^^mpathies and aid to 
New York ; some, doubtless, from the conviction that on 
account of having committed themselves in some wa}^ to 
the New York interest, they had little to hope for them- 
selves if the cause of the settlers against New York should 
win, and others from the belief that the cause of New York 
was too powerful to be successfully opposed. 

The following paragraph from the " History of Eastern 
Vermont," by Benjamin H. Hall, describes the serious divis- 
ion of feeling in Guilford (a town next to the Massachusetts 
line, and the easternmost but one in Southern Vermont) : — 

"Houses were divided, — the father upholding the jurisdiction 
of New York ; the sons maintaining the supremacy of Vermont. 
Friendships the most intimate were disturbed. The word neigh- 
bor cai'ried no meaning with it beyond the idea of contiguity. 
The physician could not visit his patient in safety unless protected 
by a pass. The minister of the gospel failed to enforce the doc- 
trine of Christian charity on the hearts of men wlxo knew none for 
one another." ' 

It was in this state of things that, in the summer of 1783, 
General Ethan Allen was directed to call out the militia for 
enforcing the laws of Vermont, and for suppressing insur- 
rection and disturbances in the county of Windham (south- 
east count}^). Allen proceeded from Bennington at the 
head of one hundred Gi'een Mountain Boys, and on his 

1 p. 500. 



136 MKMOniALS OF A CEXTUIIY. 

arrival at Guilford he issued the following proclamation, 
concluding it (with an oath) as follows : — 

"I, Ethan Allen, declare that unless the people of Gnilford 
peaceably submit to the authority of Vermont, the town shall be 
made as desolate as were the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah." 

These trials made the settlers here very determined, com- 
pacted them together, set them irresistibl}^ against the ju- 
risdiction of New York, caused all tories to become very 
odious in their sight, and bore them onward tln'ough incon- 
ceivable difficulties and hardships to the goal to which, 
under Providence, they were sur.ely tending, — that of an 
independent State. 

In this struggle the settlers exhibited some rare qualities 
of a superior understanding and character. With all their 
rude energy they were still more remarkable for shrewdness 
and tact, which failed not unfrequently to be identified as 
such, because it was clothed with a naive simplicity ; and 
yet it went as unerringl3^to its chosen mark, as ever did 
Locksley's arrow in the romance of Walter Scott. Full of 
interest are the accounts of their success in keeping the 
English forces from invading us on tlie north, for two years, 
and when we were in a manner defenceless, by simply per- 
mitting the English general Haldimand to believe that the^^ 
could be cajoled to sell their gountry to the British crown ; 
and yet all the time the fire of patriotism burned as brightl>- 
on their altars as did the flame of their devotion to their 
more narrow interests as a commonwealth. ^ The}' kept the 

1 The inliabitants of the Grants felt that they could not consistently join an 
association with the province of New York, so they formed and subscribed an 
association of their own in the following words : " We, the subscribers, in- 
habitants of the district of land, commonly called and known by the name of 
the New Hampshire Grants, do voluntarily and solemnly engage, under all the 
ties held sacred amongst mankind, at the risk of our lives and fortunes, to de- 
fend by arms the United States against the hostile attempts of the British fleets 
and armies, until the present unhappy controversy between the two countries 



srinEtroxEss and moderatiox. 137 

surrounding country, and ever}' Tory and Yorker within 
their bounds, under fear of being hung and quartered by 
them if cauglit in an}- act of dereliction to their cause. 
" And yet during the whole controversy not a single life 
was taken by them, not a person was permanently maimed, 
and there is no evidence that a gun was ever aimed and dis- 
charged at any one." ^ Thus they were considerate of the 
rights and peace of others, although determined to mriu- 
tain their own. 

The New York government intimated a purpose to 
stop further hostile proceedings, though proposing to 
continue colonial jurisdiction over them, they grounded 
arms at once, and held public rejoicings over the pros- 
pect of peace. At a later period of the controversy, when 
they had a fair prospect of being able to incorporate with 
their declared new State all the towns up to the Hudson 
River on the west, and over the Connecticut River half way 
into New Hampshire as it now is on the east, upon the 
first intimation from Congress that the}' would be approved 
by that body if they would abandon the new acquisitions, 
thc}^ let them go ; and when New York State offered to 
close the controversy upon their payment of thirty thousand 
dollars, they promptly accepted the terms. 

But severely as they were, for more than a quarter of a 
centur}^ of unscrupulous and powerful opposition, put to the 
test, the}^ triumphantly proved to the world that it was not 
in them to seriously yield the rights or advantages which 
were vital to their independence, and to their nobly doing 

• shall be settled." Subscribed by forty-nine of the fifty members of the conven- 
tion held at Cephas Kent's, in Dorset, July 24, 1776, of which Captain Joseph 
Bowker, of Rutland, was chairman, and Jonas Fay, of Bennington, clerk; 
thirty-one towns on the west side of the mountains and one on the east side 
being represented by fifty-one delegates. — Early History Vermont, pp. 231, 2. 
The warrant for this convention was signed by James Breakenridge, Simeon 
Hathaway, and Elijah Dewey, — all Bennington men. 
1 Early Hist. Vermont, p. 161. 
12* 



138 MEMORIALS OF A CENTVRY. 

as men and citizens. Thej^ therefore, organized their 
companies of Green Mountain Bo5'S, appointed general con- 
ventions of the towns, and town councils of safety, and 
their far-famed State council of safety, adopted a dec- 
laration of State independence, enacted laws for themselves, 
and put in operation the complicated machinery of an inde- 
pendent State government. 

There is not space here to go much into the details of 
this vigorous and effective struggle of more than a quarter 
of a century. The hardy settlers were armed at all points. 
They drove away the New York surveyors, even when 
these came supported by the sheriff" and his posse ; if a 
comrade was stealthily spirited away, when made aware of 
the fact, they mounted horse and hurried to the rescue, and 
that not without success; if a '•''Yorker" was discovered 
among them, they applied the Beech Seal,^ or some other 
eff"ective chastisement. They sent able men to Albany to 
remonstrate there against the proceedings of New York, 
and, had they been permitted, to plead the causes of their 
people in the courts there. Thej^ sent agents to the court 
of Great Britain. When the question of their admission as 
a State into the Federal Union had become a question for 
Congress to act upon, and they were successfull}^ opposed 
for years b}' the powerful influence of New York in the 
Federal councils, the}^ sent petition after petition and their 
foremost men to represent their cause occasionally or con- 
tinuously at Philadelphia. 

1 The moderation and justice of the settlers liave been referred to, and that the 
severe hinguage and threatenings were not so much for actual execution as for 
rhetorical effect. With regard to the application of the beech-seal : " This 
mode of punishment by the beech-seal, though much talked of and abundantly 
threatened, was not often executed. There are, in fact, not more than two or 
three well authenticated instances in which it appears to have been intliclcd." — 
Hall's Early Hist. Vermont, p. 162. See also his further remarks to show that 
the Green Jlountain Hoys were not peculiar in inflicting corporal punishment 
* upon their adversaries, and that the colony of New York was " at that time by 
mo means an exception to that practice.'' 



THE LENGTH OF THE STJiVGGLE. 139 

The continuance of this struggle was prolonged through 
a period of twentj'-six j-ears, — 1764-1790. While they were 
fighting the battles of American independence, they were 
denied a place as a State among the United States. ^ 

1 The declaration of Vermont Independence was issued under date of Jan. 15, 
1777. " The vote of convention to be an independent State, and the declaration 
of independence accordingly, was decisively brought about at last doubtless by 
the Declaration of American Independence. When the colonies declared them- 
selves free of the British Crown, it was felt by the Vermont settlers that there 
no longer remained any earthly power recognized by the parties iis a superior 
possessing the right of deciding the controversy between themselves and New 
York." — Gov. Slade in State Papers, p. 65. " Every part of the United States 
was, at that period, contending against oppression; and every consideration that 
could justify the proceedings of Congress was a reason why the people of Ver- 
mont should take that opportunity effectually to guard against.their former suf- 
ferings." — Williamg. 



CHAPTER XI. 

LAND-TITLE CONTROVERSY, CONTINUED. 



"N 




^^IJO add to all their other difficulties, there sprang up 
in the course of them a protracted, painful, and 
very critical controversy with New Hampshire, and 
parties interested with New Hampshire in. making 
the towns between the Green Mountains and Con- 
necticut River a part of that State. There is not 
space here to notice that controversy further than to say 
that it had required the utmost possible vigor and address 
of the settlers to prevent it from finally destrojing their 
hopes of becoming a State. 

Bennington was, throughout this controversy'', the head- 
quarters of the opponents of New York ; the place where 
their plans of operations were generally devised, and whence 
issued their resolves and orders, and a large share of the 
phj'sical force which carried them into eff"ect.^ Ethan Allen 
and Seth Warner, who bore a conspicuous part in the 
struggle, resided here. 

Ethan Allen, being on one occasion in Albany, to aid, 
if an opportunity was granted, the defence in the eject- 
ment suits, it is related that before he left Albany he was 
called on by the Attorney -General, who told him that the 
cause of the settlers was desperate, and urged him to go 
home and persuade his Green Mountain friends to make 
the best terms they could with their new landlords, remind- 

1 For the composition of the Vermont Council of Safety (originally numbering 
twelve — (Gen. Stark), — and some notice of its spirit and measures, see Early 
Hist. Vt., pp. 258, 9. 



THE BREAKENRIDGE FARM. 141 

ing him of the proverb, that might often prevails against 
right. Allen coolly replied to thera, that the gods of the val- 
leys ivere not the gods of the hills; and when asked by 
Kempe, the king's attorney, to explain his meaning, he 
only added, that if he would accompany him to Benning- 
ton the same would be made clear. 

When James Breakenridge's farm, at one end of the 
town, and Dr. Fuller's at the other, were singled out to be 
forcibly wrested from their occupants and placed in the 
power of the New York speculators, the citizens of the 
town voted to take the farms of Breakenridge and Fuller 
under the protection of the town, aiyl to defend them 
against the New York officers at all hazards. This resolve 
they effectually and thoroughly executed ; particularly, the 
attempt to obtain forcible possession of Mr. Breakenridge's 
farm was so systematically and deliberately organized, and 
yet so completely defeated, that it discouraged attempts of 
the like kind thereafter. The sheriff made a general summons 
of the citizens of Albany to accompany him, so that when he 
started on his expedition he found himself at the head of 
over three hundred variously armed men, of different occu- 
pations and professions, and he received additions to his 
numbers b}^ new levies on the way ; but with all the 
sheriff found " the gods of the hills " too strong for " the 
gods of the valleys." ^ 

Remember Baker, of Arlington, opposed to New Y6rk, 
was assaulted, with his family, in his house, before da}^- 
light Sunday morning, by John Munro, Esq., a New York 
justice, and ten or twelve of his friends and dependents, 
and forcibly carried off. News of the transaction was 
conveyed by express to Bennington. Ten men immedi- 
ately mounted their horses, got upon the track of the 
banditti, intercepted them, and rescued Baker. The 

1 See a graphic account of this important affair in Early Hist. Vt., pp. 124-126. 



142 MEMOniALS OF A CENTURY. 

names of the men were as follows : Gen. Isaac Clark, Col. 
Joseph Saflford, Maj. Wait Hopkins, Col. David Safford, 
and Messrs. Timothy Abbott, Stephen Hopkins, Elnathan 
Hubbell, Samuel Tubbs, Ezekiel Brewster, and Nathaniel 
Holmes. (The men are designated by their subsequent 
titles.)! 

There was at one time a gleam of hope from Albany, 
entertained, as before alluded to, by the settlers. A com- 
mittee consisting of the Rev, Mr. Dewey and others wrote 
a communication, and Ethan Allen and others also wrote a 
letter. These were conveyed by Capt. Stephen Fay and his 
'son. Dr. Jonas Fa}', to Governor Tryon ; they had received 
a safe-conduct for this purpose from the New York Gover- 
nor. They were kindly received by him, and the letters 
they bore appear to have had much weight with him at the 
time ; so much so that the council recommended and His 
Excellency approved the suspension of all prosecutions in 
behalf of the crown, on account of crimes with which the 
settlers stood charged, until the pleasure of the king should 
be known, and also suspension of civil suits. This slight 
favorable turn moved the universal joy in Bennington and 
vinicity. A vast concourse of people assembled at the 
meeting-house in Bennington to give expression to the 
general satisfaction. It was, however, shortlived ; the 
gleam of sunshine soon disappeared. 

This was July 15, 1772. The year befoi'e military or- 
ganizations were formed in the several townships west of 
the mountains, for forcible opposition, when necessary, to 
the New York patentees ; one company was formed in 
Bennington, with Seth Warner as captain ; the whole body 
of companies when acting together were commanded by 
Ethan Allen as colonel. In defiant contempt of a reported 
threat of tlie Governor of New York that he would " drive 

1 Early History of Vermont, p. 137. 



PROCLAMATION OF THE SETTLERS. 143 

the opposers of his goverument into the Green Mountains," 
this militaiy body took the name " Green Mountain Boys." 
The place where in Bennington the councils of the leaders 
were held, the Council of Safety, was the Green Mountain 
Tavern kept by Capt. Stephen Fay. It had for its sign 
the stuffed skin of a catamolmt, with teeth grinning toward 
New York, and hence came to be called the Catamount 
Tavern. Mention has been made of negotiations by Ver- 
mont statesmen, with other parties and powers, about the 
questions in controversy, and particularly at Philadelphia. 

Prominent among them were Bennington men such as 
Jonas Fay, Moses Robinson, Isaac Ticheuor, etc. 

At the convention of the towns west of the Green 
Mountains, at the house of Cephas Kent, in Dorset, Jan. 
16, 1776, at which it was voted " to represent the particular 
case of the inhabitants of the New Hampshire Grants to 
the honorable Continental Congress by remonstrance and 
petition," Dr. Jonas Fay was chairman of the committee 
to prepare the petition ; Lieut James Breakenridge, Capt. 
Hemau Allen, and Dr. Jonas Fay were appointed to pre- 
sent the petition to Congress, — one of the most important 
documents to which this great controversy gave rise. Sim- 
eon Hatheway, Elijah Dewey, and James Breakenridge were 
appointed a committee with power to warn a general meet- 
ing of the committees on the Grants when they shall judge 
necessary /rom southern intelligence. 



NOTES TO THE ABOVE TWO CHAPTERS. 

" And we now proclaim to the public, not only for ourselves, but 
for the New Hampshire grantees and occupants in general, that 
the spi'ing and moving cause of our opposition to the government 
of New York was solf-preservation ; namely, first, the pi'eserva- 



144 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

tiou and mainteuauce of our property; and, secondly, since that 
government is so incensed against us, therefore it stands us in hand 
to defend our lives. For it appears, by a late set of laws passed 
by the legislature thereof, that the lives and property of the New 
Hampshire settlers are manifestly struck at. But, that the public 
may rightly understand the essence of the controversy, we now 
proclaim to these lawgivers, and to the world, that if the New 
York patentees will remove their patents, that have been subse- 
quently lapped and laid on the New Hampshire charters, and quiet 
us in our possessions, agreeably to His Majesty's directions, and 
suspend those criminal prosecutions against us for being rioters (as 
we are unjustly deuomiuated), then will our settlers be orderly and 
submissive subjects of government. But be it known to that de- 
spotic fraternity of lawmakers, and law-breakers, that we will not 
be fooled or frightened out of our property."' "At a general 
meeting of the committees for the townships on the west side of 
the Green Mountains, it was resolved, April H. 1774, that for the 
future every necessary preparation be made, and that our inhabi- 
tants hold themselves in readiness, at a minute's warning, to aid 
and defend such friends of ours, who, for their merit to the great 
and general cause, are falsely denominated rioters. But that we 
will not act anything, more or less, but on the defensive ; and al- 
ways encourage due execution of law in civil cases, and also in 
criminal prosecutions that are so iudeed, and that we will assist, 
to the utmost of our power, the officers appointed for that pur- 
pose." 

" On the farm of James Breakeuridge the first serious attempt 
was made by the New York State Government to forcibly dispos- 
sess the occupants, and to divide up the property amongst New 
York claimants ; and here they met with their first serious discom- 
fiture; and this was their last attempt of that kind. Here, in fact, 
on the farm of James Breakeuridge, was born the future State of 
Vermont, which, struggling through the perils of infancy, had, at 
the commencement of the general lievolution, acquired the activity 
and strength of adventurous youth, and at its close reached the 
ftill stature of manhood; and not long afterward had become the 
acknowledged equal of its associate American republics.'"^ 

1 Remonstrances of Etlian Allen and others. — State Tapers, page 40. See 
also proclamation of Gov. Clinton. — ytate I'iipcrs, pp. S2-4. 

2 Vermont flist. Mag. 



ADMISSION OF VERMONT INTO THE UNION. 145 

An Act for the admission of the State of Vermont into this 
Union. 

The State of Vermont having petitioned the Congress to be ad- 
mitted a member of the United States, — 

Be it enacted, by the Senate and House of Bcpresentativss of the 
United States of America, in Congress assembled, and it is hereby en- 
acted and declared, That on the fourth day of March, one thousand 
seven hundred and ninety-one, the said State, by the name and 
style of the State of Vermont, shall be received and admitted into 
this Union, as a new and entire member of the United States of 
America. 

FREDEEIC AUGUSTUS MUHLENBERG, 

Speaker of the House of Bepresentatives. 

JOHN ADAMS, 

Vice-President of the United States, and President of the Senate. 

Approved Feb. 18, 1791. 

GEORGE WASHINGTON, 

President of the United States. 
13 



CHAPTER XII. 

THE BENNINGTON BATTLE. 

" Pliant as reeds where streams of freedom glide, 
Firm as tlie liills to stem oppression's tide."l 

tT is the aim of this part of the volume to view the bat- 
tle from the Bennington stand-point, and at the same 
^^ time to preserve the truth of history ; and the relation 
1^ of the ^battle to general history will be presented at 
e^ some length. 

I. Anxiety in the Country previous to the Bat- 
tle. — At the surrender of Ticonderoga by St. Clair, July 
6, 1777, the anxiety of the country became universal. "We 
had failed, under the brave and lamented Montgomery, to 
carry Quebec by storm. We had abandoned Crown Point. 
Our little navy, though handled with utmost spirit and res- 
olution, had proved itself unable to resist the vastly supe- 
rior strength of the British flotilla on Lake Champlain. We 
had, by mortifying negligence ^ in not fortifjdng Mt. Defi- 

1 Motto of tlie first paper printed in Vermont, 1781. — Thompson. 

2 " July 5. — It is with astonishment we find the enemy has taken possession of 
an eminence called Sugar Loaf Hill, or Mt. Defiance, which, from its height and 
proximity, completely overlooks and commands all our works at Ticonderoga and 
Mt. Independence. This mount, it is said, ought long since to have been fortified 
by our army; but its extreme difficulty of access, and the want of a sufficient 
number of men, are the reasons assigned for its being neglected." " July U. — 
The abandonment of Ticonderoga and Mt. Independence has occasioned the 
greatest surprise and alarm. No movement could be more unexpected, nor 
more severely felt, throughout our army and country. The disaster has given 
to our cause a dark and gloomy aspect." Cjenerals Schuyler and St. Clair are 



DISASTEItS. 147 

ance, which commanded Ticonderoga and Mt. Independ- 
ence, lost what was regarded, under the circumstances of 
the country at that time, as tlie bulwark of the North. 
The main body of our army, fleeing eastwardly into the 
New Hampshire Grants, had been hotly pursued by the 
enemy, and its rear-guard, under Warner and Francis, at- 
tacked at Hubbardton, and, though men never fought more 
bravely, Riedsell's advance with his Germans had decided 
the day against us. In our flight thence southward, being 
joined by that portion of the army whicli liad charge of bag- 
gage and army stores, — and which had successively aban- 
doned Skenesborough and Fort Ann, — Fort Edward, 
Moses Creek, Saratoga, were in a brief time occupied and 
then surrendered by our wasting troops. 

Serious reverses in other parts of the country intensified 
the alarm. Public fasts were observed in some States. 

spoken of in this entry as severely suspected, or, at least, complained of. 
"Time and calm investigation must determine." — Thaclier's Military Journal. 
Palmer vindicates Schuyler and St. Clair from blame. " Both Schuyler and St. 
Clair were severely and unjustly censured; " but says also, " That a great error 
was committed in relying upon the supposed strength of the position at Ticon- 
deroga, cannot be denied." — Palmer's History of Lake Champlain. Irving is an 
admirer of Schuyler. — Irving's Life of Washington. Bancroft appears to be 
about right. " Meantime the British were never harried by the troops with 
Schuyler, against whom public opinion was rising. Men reasoned rightly, that, 
if Ticonderoga was untenable, he should have known it, and given timely orders 
for its evacuation ; instead of which he had been keeping up stores there to the 
last." — Bancroft, Vol. ix.,p. 372. 

Even Washington was oppressed by the tidings from Ticonderoga. He wrote 
to General Schuyler, on hearing of tlie disaster : " The evacuation of Ticonderoga 
and Mt. Independence is an event of chagrin and surprise not apprehended nor 
within the compass of my reasoning." He said, " As matters are going, Burgoyne 
will have little difficulty in penetrating to Albany." " Sir William Howe was 
promptly notified that Burgoyne had precise orders to force a junction with the 
army in New York." ^Bancroft. " The rapid progress of General Burgoyne on 
the side of the lakes, and the unaccountable conduct of their (American) com- 
manders in abandoning Ticonderoga, were events so alarming and unexpected 
that they could not fail to perplex their counsels, and considerably impede tlieir 
defensive preparations in other parts." — An Impartial History of tlie War in 
America, etc. London, 1787. " There are many long faces, for the key of North 
America is lost and gone." 



148 MEMORIALS OF A CENTUUT. 

"At Alban}^ it is said, the people ran about as if dis- 
tracted, sending off their goods and furniture ; and this 
feeling pervaded the entire northern and eastern part of 
New York, and the adjacent portions of Vermont and Mas- 
sachusetts." 1 The region of the New Hampshire Grants 
was profoundh' stirred. The Rev. Mr. Noble, in his Wil- 
liamstown centennial address, speaking of a dwelling-house 
then building (1777), — the Smedley house, — says, "The 
roof of it was no sooner in place than the house was crowded 
in every part by families flying from the terrors which 
darkened the whole region north and west of us, as tlie cloud 
of war rolled on from Canada to Lake George and Saratoga." 
East of the mountains the people of several towns crossed 
the Connecticut. In Stockbridge, Mass., they were "greatl}' 
burdened with people who had fled from the New Hamp- 
shire Grants." Tlie settlers along the lake, and as far 
down as Manchester, had either submitted to Burgoyne 
and talien his protection, or were abandoning their posses- 
sions and removing southward.^ 

Gen. Howe had beaten us on Long Island and at New 
York, — taking forts, men and magazines, — and had also 
gotten possession of New Jersey, and Newport in Rhode 
Island.^ Though this able Britisli general spent much time 
contriving and executing mano9uvres with his arra\' and na- 
vy to deceive us as to his real intentions. Gen. Washington 
did not snfter himself to be successful!}'^ imposed upon, and 
entertained no doubt that his real design was to secure Gen. 
Burgoyne's junction with himself, by way of Hudson River.'^ 

1 Dawson's Battles of the United States. 

2 Butler's Address. 

3 " Tlie Britisli appeared now so far superior in their naval and military forces, 
and munitions of war, that whoever coniput"d the issue of the controversy by 
the natural course of things could hardly avoid the conclusion that the Colonies 
would have to submit to the sovereignty of Great Britain." 

4 " The great battle-field of the Kevolution " has been perhaps not inappropri- 
ately represented " as in the vicinity of Lake Chaniplain, — for the great purpose 



INDIAN TERRORS. 149 

Lieut.-Gen. Burgoyne brought to the campaign in the 
north a considerable prestige from over the sea, and this 
was now very much enhanced b}^ his late achievements on 
Lake Champlain and in its immediate vicinity. ^ His men, 
officers, and equipments had been provided with great care 
by the Home Government.^ Upon arriving in this country 
he entered promptly upon his work, and down to the time 
of his encampment on the banks of the Hudson, opposite 
Saratoga, his career had been an unvarying series of suc- 
cesses skilfully and vigorously pursued. 

11. Indian Terrors. — The earl}^ colonies of Massachu- 
setts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island found added to their 
other hardships those of Indian hostility. Crafty and 
cruel tribes, who had preoccupied the soil, prejed upon them 
by night, and in ambush by da}'. The early settlers here 
were spared this severe experience ; nevertheless the sav- 
age nature of the red man was sufficiently understood by 
them. Several of the inhabitants of this town had had 

of the British Government was to sever New England from the South and West, 
thus rendering her incapable of assisting, or receiving assistance." 

1 He had concluded a campaign in Spain with great credit to himself. He then 
was elected to Parliament, where he served not without some distinction ; he also 
used his pen with considerable success, before he was appointed a lieutenant- 
general to take charge of the campaign in America, in the North. — Intro- 
duction to Burgoyne's Orderly Book. 

2 " Lieut.-Gen. Burgoyne, an officer whose ability was unquestioned, and whose 
spirit of enterprise and tliirst for military glory, however rivalled, could not pos- 
sibly be exceeded."' — Impartial History of the War in America, Loudon, 1*87. 
" The British general's well-known abilities and valor." — Andrews, London, 
1783. " This part of the service " (a " powerful artillery ") " was particularly at- 
tended to, and the brass train that was sent over on this expedition (to America) 
was perhaps the finest, and probably the most excellently supplied, as to officers 
and private men, that had ever been allotted to second the operations of any army 
which did not far exceed the present in numbers." — Impartial History, etc. 
Account of the British preparations under Gen. Carlton, pending the arrival of 
Burgoyne from Europe. " Sir Guy Carleton, who liad under him. Generals Bur- 
goyne, Phillips, Frazer, Nesbit and Riedell ; all men of acknowledged skill and 
ability. " — Palmer's History of Lake Champlain, pp. 117, 134. See, also, Gor- 
don, Thacher, Burgoyne's State of the Expedition. 

13* 



150 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

near relatives massacred or carried captives by the In- 
dians. i 

The murder of Miss McCrea, July 27, 1777, owing to 
some peculiar circumstances, was upon every tongue. She 
was a young woman of twenty, belonging to a patriotic 
family, that of a Presbyterian clergyman of New Jersey, 
but engaged to be married to one Jones, a commissioned 
officer in Peters' corps of loyalists. She was a guest at the 
house of Jones' mother, within the British lines, in the vi- 
cinity of Fort Edward, and started under an escort of two 
Indians to go to the house of Jones' brother, near the 
British camp, some three or four miles distant, to meet her 
betrothed. She esteemed herself under the protection of 
British arms. It is said a barrel of rum had been promised 
to her escort if she was delivered safely at the place of her 
destination ; and that the Indians quarrelled about the re- 
ward. Some half a mile yet remained to the accomplish- 
ment of the journey, and one of the Indians sunk his tom- 
ahawk in her skull. The incident was not of unusual bar- 
barity ; but this massacre of a betrothed girl, on her way to 
her lover, touched the hearts of all who heard the story .^ 

Gen. Carleton (Burgoyne's predecessor in command) 
omitted to employ savages, " probably because, in a word, 
that their service was uncertain, their rapacity insatiable, 
their faith ever doubtful, and their actions cruel and barba- 
rous." 3 Burgoyne hesitated for a time, but soon yielded 

1 Major Wait Hopkins, fatlier of Major Aaron Robinson's first wife, was 
killed by the Indians. Eliphalet Follet, fatberiof Charles Follett, who married 
Hannah, daughter of Col. Samuel llobinson, was killed by them in a great mas- 
sacre, June, 1777; Isaac Webster, wiio married Anna, youngest child of Sanmel 
Robinson, Sr., was at one time previous to his marriage a captive among them. 

Mrs. Harvey, of Cleveland, is a grand-daughter of Mrs. Isaac Webster; Mrs. 
Rev. Henry 31. Swift of Michigan, is a gre.at-grand-daughter. 

See Thompson's Vermont, p. 11, chap. 4, sec. 7. 

'i Burgoyne's Orderly Book, Ramsey, Gordon, Irving, Bancroft. 

3 An Impartial History of the War in America, etc.; London, 1787, p. 446. 
He was afterward ordered by the Home Government to employ the savages, and 
complied with his orders. — lb., p. 447. 



baum's expedition. 151 

his scruples. He hunted out the assassin of Miss McCrea, 
and threatened him with death, hut pardoned hira on hear- 
ing that the total defection of the Indians would have en- 
sued from putting that threat into execution. i Early in 
June he confessed to Germain, that, " were the Indians left 
to themselves, enormities too horrid to think of would en- 
sue ; guilty and innocent women and infants would be a 
common prey." He nevertheless resolved to use them as 
instruments of terror. He gave out that he would send 
them after arriving at Albany toward Connecticut and 
Boston. 

"Let uot people consider then" distance from my camp. I have 
but to give stretch to the Indian forces under my direction, and 
they amouut to thousands, to overtake the hardened enemies of 
Great Britain. If the frenzy of hostility should remain, I trust I 
shall stand acquitted in the eyes of God and man, in executing the 
vengeance of the State aguiust the wilful outcasts." - 

Every day the savages brought in scalps as well as pris- 
oners.3 Burgoyne had detachments from seventeen nations 
of Indians. The Ottawas longed to go home, but on the 
oth of August, nine days after the murder of Jane McCrea, 
Burgoj'ne took from all his red warriors a pledge to stay 
through the campaign.^ 

III. Baum's Expedition. — Upon leaving the lake and 
proceeding southward b}' land, Burgoyne found his progress 
greatly impeded by want of horses, carriages, and supplies. 
The country was a wilderness. He attempted to bring for- 
ward his artillery and stores, and to open the way from 
Skenesborough to Fort Edward. But, so effectually had 
the Americans blocked up and obstructed the road, that 
the British army was frequently twenty-four hours in ad- 

1,2. 3, 4 Bancroft. 



152 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

vancing one mile. It was not until the 30th of July 
that he reached and fixed his head-quarters at Fort Edward. 

Nothing could exceed their J03' upon their arrival at 
the Hudson. They flattered themselves that their diffi- 
culties and toils were now ended, and that there was 
nothing before them but a safe and easy march to Al- 
bany, and thence to a junction with the British army at 
New York. But there was still much land carriage to be 
accomplished, and they had not the carriages necessary, 
nor the horses nor supplies. On the arrival of the army 
at Fort Edward, the great object of immediate attention 
was the bringing up the transports from Fort George. 
The distance was about sixteen miles, but the roads were 
out of repair, weather unfavorable, cattle and carriages 
scarce. Many of the latter had been detained to drag 
boats and provisions from Ticonderoga over the carrying- 
places between Lake Champlain and Lake George. In fact, 
there had also been serious delay in getting the different 
divisions of horses, collected in Canada, through the des- 
ert between St. John's and Ticonderoga. 

It was soon found that, in the situation of the transport 
service, the army could barely be victualled from day to day.^ 
Although at the fall of Ticonderoga Burgoj^ie obtained 
not less than 1,748 barrels of flour, and more than seventj^ 
tons of salt provisions, and also a large drove of cattle 
which had arrived in the American camp a few days previ- 
ous to their retreat,- Glich (a German officer in the Ben- 
nington battle) referring to a time just before the setting out 
of the Baum expedition, says, "• Though Burgoj'ne's troops 
had toiled without intermission during three whole weeks, 
there was in camp no greater stock of provisions than 
promised to suffice for four days' consumption." 

1 Burgoyne's State of the Expedition. 

2 Thompson's Vermont. 



MILITARY STORES AT BENNINGTOK. 153 

The idea of the expedition to Bennington originated 
in this difficnlty. By intelligence through Gen. Riedsell, 
and from other sources, Burg03'ne had learned that Ben- 
nington was the great deposit of corn, flour, store cattle, 
and wheel carriages ; that it was guarded only by militia ; 
"and every day's account" — so he states — "tended to 
contirm the persuasion of the loj'alty of one description of 
the inhabitants, and the panic of the other." ^ 

Besides, there was need of horses, not only for the trans- 
port serA'ice, but also for fighting. Riedsell's dragoons 
were without horses and needed to be mounted.^ 

Burgoyne, with the approbation of his officers,^ — so he 
said before the Committee of the House of Commons, — re- 
solved upon an expedition to capture the Bennington 
military stores. The particular purpose of the expedition, 
namely, Bennington and its storehouse, was to be kept secret 
as long as possible, and an impression was to be made that 
Burgoyne was about to break camp and start, with his 
army, for Boston, in order to conceal the main part of his 
general plan, which Avas to effect a junction with Howe, 
who was at New York. The true scope of the particular 

1 Burgoyne's State of the Expedition. 

2 " This want of necessaries " (in Buigoyne's camp) " was the more mortifying, 
as the Provincial (New England) camp was furnished with them in greatest 
abundance. . . . Here a copious magazine had been formed for the Provin- 
cial army." — Andrews, London, 17S6. " Tlie enemy" (Americans) "received 
large supplies from the New England provinces, which, passing the upper part of 
the Connecticnt lliver, took the route to Jlancliester," . . . "until they 
M'ere at length deposited at Bennington, whence they were conveyed, as occasion 
required, to the regular army." . . . " It (Bennington) was, however, at 
this time, beside being a store for cattle, a depot for large quantities of corn and 
other necessaries; and, what rendered it an object of ))articular attention to 
the royal army, a large number of wheel carriages, of which they were in par- 
ticular want, were laid up there." — Impartial History of the War, London, 1787. 
See, also, U lick's Narrative. 

3 Burgoyne's .State of the Expedition. — The testimony before the Committee 
of the House of Commons shows that Burgoyne acted with the approval ion of 
his officers, only that Gen. Frazer, a British oflicer, thought British soldieis bet- 
ter than German for the purpose. 



154 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

expedition now in hand was not, howevei", merely to cap- 
ture the block-house at Bennington, but also to scour a 
wide circuit of the country. The instructions he gave to 
the commander of the expedition were, to try the affections 
of the country ; to disconcert the counsels of the enemy ; 
to mount Riedsell's dragoons ; to complete Peters' corps of 
loyalists, and to obtain large supplies of cattle, horses, 
and carriages ; to scour the country from Rockingham to 
Otter Creek ; to go down the Connecticut River as far as 
Brattleborough, and return, by the great road, to Albany, 
there to meet Gen. Burgoyne. The number of horses to 
be brought was thirteen hundred at least. They were to 
be tied in strings of ten each, in order that one man might 
lead ten horses.^ 

With all the elation of his hopes he fitted out this expe- 
dition with much care. He selected for its nucleus and chief 
dependence a corps of Riedsell's dismounted dragoons, — 
the same that had behaved so gallantly at Hubbardton, 
— a company of sharpshooters, chosen with care from all 
the regiments, under Capt. Frazer, — a most excellent offi- 
cer ; — Peters' corps of Loj'alists, to be swelled as they 
proceeded ; a body of Canadian rangers ; Hanau Artiller- 
ists with two cannon ; a hundred and fifty Indians. He 
placed all under the care of Lieut.-Col. Baum, a skilled and 
thoroughly brave German officer. To these troops he, 
after they had proceeded on their waj^ a little, added fifty 
chasseurs. There can be no doubt he expected his column 
to be much increased by the accession of tories along the 
route. 

1 Burgoyne's state of the Expedition. — " You will use all possible means to 
make the country believe that the troops under your command are the advanced 
corps of the army, and that it is intended to pass the Connecticut on the road to 
Boston. You will likewise insinuate that the main army from Albany is to 
be joined at .Springfield by a corps of troops from Rhode Island." — Burgoyne's 
Instructions to Baum. Also Burgoyne to Col. Skene. 



VERMONT AROUSED. 155 

To support Col. Banm in case of necessity, Gen. Bur- 
goyne stationed Lieut.-Col. Breyman at Battenkill, twenty- 
two miles off from Bennington, witli two cannon of larger 
calibre than those in charge of Baum, and a strong body 
of German regulars, Brunswick grenadiers, light infantry, 
and chasseurs. 

To be himself more advantageously situated to render 
further support with his army, if there should be need, he 
moved it to a point on the Hudson opposite Saratoga, and 
encamped there on the side of the river toward Bennington. 
When Baum had started on his way, Burgoyne rode after 
him and gave him verbal orders. 

rV. Vermont Aroused. — The weight of gloom at this 
time on minds devoted to the American cause must have 
been indescribable. But nowhere would this be true of 
pati'iots and brave men more than on the Hampshire 
Grants. It may be said this feeling would be intensified 
at Bennington. 

In most, if not all, of the important actions recently at 
the North, both prosperous and adverse, Bennington had 
borne a part. Upon the fall of Montgomery and defeat of 
our troops before Quebec, Col. "Warner, having, within a 
few weeks, honorably' discharged his regiment of Green 
Mountain Boys, at the call of Gen. Wooster, again beat up 
for volunteers, and was at the head of another regiment 
marched to Quebec, endured the rigors of a winter cam- 
paign, and brought up the rear of the retreating American 
army in the coming spring. The northern portions of the 
Grants being then exposed, Bennington, at a town meeting, 
voted, 

" To raise ninety dollars as an encouragement to those who may 
enlist in the serviee of guarding the frontier towns in the Grants." 

It was also " voted to pay those who went a little time be- 



156 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

fore on this service if the Continent did not." Ticonderoga 
was threatened on an occasion previous to its surrender 
under St. Clair. The militia of Bennington and the neigh- 
boring towns, under Col. Moses Robinson, turned out en 
masse and marched to its relief; the defence of the fort at 
this time was successful. Col. Robinson and his regiment 
received the official thanks of Gen. Gates. 

At the same time flour "svas wanted for the subsistence of 
the army, and a letter on that behalf was addressed to Ben- 
nington. The next day it was returned for answer, that 
one thousand bushels of wheat were collected and being 
ground at the mills ; though, as the militia had left, almost 
to a man, it would be difficult to get what they had on hand 
conveyed.^ 

Col. Ethan Allen was a British prisoner ; Col. Seth 
Warner, as we have seen, had been defeated at Hubbard- 
ton. 

The state of alarm in the country after the fall of Ticon- 
deroga and the defeat at Hubbardton has been described ; 
also the confident hopes of Burgoyne from the disaffection 
on the Grants toward the Yorkers, and the compromised 
situation of those inhabitants of the Grants who had 
sympathized with New York. There was an impression in 
Bui'goyne's mind that the region of country through which 
he was passing, and especially the Hampshire Grants, be- 
cause of their hostile relations to the new State of New 
York, and through the influence of New York with the 
general government, was ripe for defection to his cause. 

Let not the reader, therefore, conclude that Burgoyne's 
impressions on this subject were correct ; or even that our 
sturdy Vermont settlers had the first thought of shuiuiing 
at such a crisis the post of danger. While women and 
children, and the infirm, and some timid ones, fled in large 

1 Vermont Hist. Mag. 



GETTING A FOOTHOLD. 157 

numbers southward for safet}'^, the profound anxiet}'- of the 
time carried with it tliis most significant of all its results : 
the thorough arousing of the sturdy dwellers among these 
green hills of New England to the duty and necessity of 
the hour. 

It is not too much to say that it ivas this spirit thus 
thoroughly in earnest that turned the scale of victory on the 
heights of the Walloomsac. 

To this sj^irit Burgoj'ne's menace of Indian hostilities was 
rather an exasperation than a terror. " The murder of Miss 
McCrea resounded throughout the land, counteracting all 
the benefits anticipated from the terror of Indian hostilities. 
Those people of the frontiers who had hitherto remained 
quiet now fled to arms to defend their families and fire- 
sides. In their exasperation they looked be3^ond the sav- 
ages to their employers. They abhorred an army which, 
professing to be civilized, could league itself with such 
barbarians ; and they execrated a government Avhich, pre- 
tending to reclaim them as subjects, could let loose such 
fiends to desolate their homes. The blood of the unfortu- 
nate girl, therefore, was not shed in' vain. Armies sprang 
up from it. Her name passed as a note of alarm along the 
banks of the Hudson ; it was a rallying word among the 
Green Mountains of Vermont, and brought down all their 
hardy yeomanry." ^ 

V. Getting a Foothold. — In estimating the influ- 
ences Avhich determined the result of the Bennington bat- 
tle, one must not be overlooked, which was the growth of 
all the previous history here of our early settlers, but did 
not get complete maturit}' until about the time of Burgoyne's 
invasion, the motive of building up upon the New Hamp- 
shire Grants a separate and independent State. An august 

1 Irving's Life ofWashington. See Thacber. 'I 

U 



158 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

crisis is that of the life of the nation, and it were well, 
perhaps, to pause longer and consider it ; and to see how 
the zeal of the early settlers here was identical, to a degree, 
with their zeal for their country ; but there was at this 
time, also, a crisis in the life of this community and this 
commonwealth. 

To go back a little further, now, in our retrospect. 
Western Vermont, owing to its intermediate location be- 
tween the French on one side and English on the other, in 
the times of the colonial wars had been a great thorough- 
fare and battle-ground for both sides, and so its permanent 
settlement had been prevented. The same course had pre- 
vented the permanent occupancj^ of this part of the country 
by Indian tribes at an earlier day ; they crossed these val- 
leys and roamed stealthily for prey up and down these 
mountain sides, but they established no pei-manent occu- 
pancy. The ground was common for battle and thorough- 
fare between tribes never for long at peace with each other. ^ 
The country here had remained comparatively destitute of 
Indian settlements, as it afterward was of French or Eng- 
lish colonists. 

A new order of things opened when our hardy immi- 
grants of 1761 set foot upon this soil. They came to stay. 
They brought with them too much vigor and determination 
for any obstacle or foe whatever. It requires no stretch of 
imagination to see that, had not the Green Mountain Boys 
determined that Burgo^^ne should not cross this soil, their 
beautiful territory would have again become mere frontier ; 



1 " The scantiness of the population cannot be attributed to any other cause 
than tlie local situation of Vermont with respect to the various InrUan nations, 
which prevented its becoming a permanent residence for the red man in earlier 
times, and afterward prevented its being settled by the French and Englisli during 
the colonial wars." — Mr. Hougliton's .Montpelier address on the life of Seth 
Warner. See Williams' Hist. Vermont, 1794, p. 211; also Palfrey's Hist. New 
England; also Thompson's Vermont, V. II., pp. 205, 207, 216. 



APPEALS FROM THt! COUNCIL OF SAFETY. 159 

a disputecT territory no one can tell laow long between 
inimical powers. 

This appears from the address of the Council of Safety 
of Vermont to the Councils of Safety of Massachusetts and 
New Hampshire, requesting a concentration of patriotic 
troops for the defence of the Western Vermont border 
against Burgoyne. In that address the Council of Safety 
said : — 

"This State in particular seems to be at present the object of 
destruction. By the surrender of the foi'tress of Ticouderoga, a 
communication is opened to the defenceless inhabitants on the 
frontier, who, having little more in store at present than sufficient 
for the maintenance of their respective families, and not ability 
immediately to remove their effects, are therefore induced to ac- 
cept such protection as is offered them by the enemy. By this 
means those towns which are most contiguous to them are under 
the necessity of taking such protection, by which the next town 
or towns become equally a frontier as the former towns before 
such protection ; and unless we can have the assistance of our 
friends so as to put it immediately in our power to make a suffi- 
cient stand against such strength as they may send, it appears 
that it will soon be out of the power of this State to maintain its 
territory." 

Message after message came to New Hampshire from 
outraged Vermont in this style : — " When we are crushed 
and cease to be the frontier, j'ou must be. There is 
no frontier, and will be none, except where there are 
sufficient troops with arms in their hands to defend it." ^ 
The action of the Vermont Council of Safety, boldly com- 
mitting the State as a barrier of the bodies of her citizens 
against the further iuroads of a powerful foe flushed with 
recent and uninterrupted success, was taken on the 15tli 
of July, 1777 (the day that Burgoyne fixed in his procla- 
mation for the affrighted towns and people to come in 

1 Butler's Address, referring to Stevens. 



160 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

and make their submission to him). It was only six- 
months previously, Jan. 15, 1777, that the adjourned con- 
vention was held at the "Westminster court-house, which 
voted (N. C. D) : — 

" That the district of land commonly called and known by the 
name of New Hampshire Grants be a new and separate State, 
and for the future conduct themselves as such." 

The author of that Declaration of Independence, Dr. 
Jonas Faj"-, was a Bennington man and member of the 
Council of Safety. 

VI. PuEPAKATiONS TO MEET THE Enemy. — The appeals 
of the Vermont Council of Safety to those of Massachusetts 
and New Hampshire have been noticed. Their efforts were 
not relaxed ; nor were they the only ones that Vermont put 
forth. 

When the loss of Ticonderoga was known, agents were 
appointed by the Vermont Convention to procure arms to 
the amount of four thousand pounds sterling. Within a 
week their agents had been in Connecticut, and, failing of 
success there, had set out for Massachusetts. All arms found 
in the possession of tories in Vermont were seized. Their 
property also was confiscated to fill the militar3' chest. One 
hundred and fifty stand of arms had been recentl}^ presented 
to Vermont by Massachusetts, and an equal number sold 
among the Green Mountains by Charles Phelps, of Marl- 
borougli. Massachusetts had also furnished New Hamp- 
shire with five tons of lead and five thousand flints. When 
news of the evacuation of Ticonderoga was brought to the 
Legislature of New Hampshire, the speaker, John Laugden, 
thus addressed them : — 

"I have three thousand dollars in hard money. I will pledge 
my plate for three thousand dollars more. I have seventy hogs- 



GENERAL STARK. 161 

heads of Tobago i-iim, which shall be sold for the most it will 
bring. These are at the service of the State. If we succeed in 
defendiug our firesides and homos, I may be remunerated; if not, 
the propert3' will be of no value to me." > 

Stark was now a private citizen. The comrade of Put- 
nam in the French war, and at the battle of Bunkei* Hill 
(where he defended light breastworks among the foremost 
in service) ; a brigadier with Washington at Trenton and 
Princeton, when the arni}^ went into winter-quarters at Mor- 
ristown, he returned to New Hampshire on a recruiting ex- 
pedition. Having filled his regiments, he returned to Exe- 
ter to await orders, and there learned that several junior 
officers hud been promoted by Congress, while he was left 
out of the list. Soured with government, he had retired 
from service. He was upon his farm in New Hampshire ; ^ 
and his name was a tower ot strength among the Green 
Mountain Boj^s. The Legislature of New Hampshire offered 
him the command of the forces they were to raise. Laj'ing 
aside his private griefs, he once more donned his armor, and 
went to the field ; stipulating, however, that he should not 
be obliged to join the main army, but hang upon the wing 
of the enemy in our own borders, and strike when opportu- 
nity should offer. Jo}'' pervaded the militia wlien their 
favorite commander was announced as their chief. They 
cheerfully flocked to his standard, which he raised first at 
Charlestown (No. Four, on the Connecticut River), and then 
at Manchester, twenty miles north of Bennington. 

At Manchester, Gen, Lincoln met Stark, and had orders 
from Schuyler, then major-general of the northei'n depart- 
ment, stationed at Albany, to conduct him and his recruits 
to the Hudson. Stark positively refused to go, and exhib- 
ited the written terms upon which he had consented to ap- 

1 Butler, referring to Stevens's Papers, and Everett's Life of Stark. 

2 Irving's Life of Washington. 

14* 



162 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

pear in the field at all. His refusal was communicated to 
Congress ; and that body resolved that the Assembly of New 
Hampshire should be informed that the instructions they 
had given Gen. Stark were " destructive of military subor- 
dination, and highly prejudicial to the common cause ; " and 
the Assembly was desired " to instruct Gen. Stark to con- 
form himself to the same rules which other general officers 
of the militia were subject to whenever they were called 
out at the expense of the United States." Stark, however, 
remained immovable in his purpose to pursue an indepen- 
dent course, and be at liberty to use his own discretion as 
to where to go and when to strike. 

The time upon which we now raise the curtain is antece- 
dent to any definite knowledge of Burgoyne's designs upon 
the storehouse. At the head-quarters of Gen. Schu^'ler, no 
doubt, there was profound ignorance on the subject ; for, as 
we have seen, he sent Gen. Lincoln to bring Gen. Stark and 
his militia out of New England to the Hudson. " After the 
disaster at Hubbardton, Gen. Schuyler's first orders were 
that the Vermont militia should repair to his camp ; though, 
when remonstrated with, he allowed them to remain for the 
defence of their families, and said, ' I had forgotten to give 
orders about the security of the people on the Grants.' " i 

Gen. Stark's superior sagacity, or better means of infor- 
mation, appears in this, that he wrote, on July 29, from his 
head-quarters on the Connecticut, that the destination of the 
enemy appeared to be Bennington. In fact, it was about 
July 29 that Major-Gen. Riedsell conceived the purpose of 
mounting his regiment of dragoons, and for this purpose 
proposed the expedition under Col. Baum.^ " I am in- 
formed," says Stark, " that the enemy have left Castleton, 
with an intent to march to Bennington." How decidedly the 

1 Butler's Address. 

2 Uurgoyne's State of the Expedition. 



COUNCIL OF SAFETY. 163 

impression obtained that Bennington was an objective point 
with Burgo^'ne, or that his army, or any portion of it, would 
marcli through Bennington, does not appear. Up to the 
13th of August*Gen. Stark appeared to be still in some 
uncertainty whether his services would be needed in that 
locality, or he should rather be called at an earl}'' day to 
march elsewhei'e. 

However, he came with his brigade, seven or eight hun- 
dred strong, to Bennington. 1 He was here as early as Au- 
gust 9, and encamped about two miles west of the meeting- 
house, near the then residence of Col. Herrick, more lately 
known as the Dimmick place, where he remained for five 
daj^s, collecting information in regard to the position and 
designs of tlie enemy, and consulting with the Council of 
Safet}^, and with Col. Warner and other officers, respecting 
future operations.^ 

As time wore on, and the designs of the enemy were dis- 
closed, tlie ever-faithful Council, holding its sessions at the 
Catamount Tavern, became still more anxious and alert ; 
issuing orders for the effects of tories to be sold for the re- 
plenishment of the war treasury ;3 sending swift messengers 

1 Jesse Field to Gov. Hall. 

2 Vermont Hist. Mag. 

3 "But tlie new State had no funds or established credit; and to raise such a 
force"' ["a permanent volunteer force to patrol the frontiers, and watch the 
domestic as well as foreign foes"], "without pecuniary means, was impossi- 
ble. The difficulty was at once solved by a resolution of the Council " of Safety, 
" that the property of those who had fled to the enemy should be made to pay 
the expense of defending the persons and property of those that remained. In 
pursuance of this resolution, tlie Council, on the 28th of July, appointed 'com- 
missioners of sequestration,' with directions to seize and dispose of the property, 
under certain prescribed regulations, of ' all persons in the State who had re- 
paired to the enemy.' A proper fund for State use being thus secured, a regi- 
ment of rangers was soon organized, under Col. Samuel Herrick, which did effi- 
cient and valuable service to the State and country. ' This,' says Ira Allen, in 
his history, ' was the tirst instance in America, of seizing and selling the property 
of the enemies of American independence; ' and such is believed to be tlie fact, 
though the measure was afterward pursued in all the States." — Early Hist. 
Vermont, p. 200. 



164 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

in every direction for men and material ; even giving orders 
for the conduct of colonels of regiments. ^ 

The first entry of their records as preserved, is as fol- 
lows : — * 

" Bennington. — In Council of Safety, 

August 15, 1777." 
(The day before the battle.) 

"Sir: You are hereby desired to forward to this place, by ex- 
press, all the lead you can possibly collect in your vicinity, as it is 
expected every minute an action will commence between our 
troops and the enemy within four or five miles of this place, and 

the lead will be positively loanted. 

" By order of Council." 

(This order was sent with all speed in different direc- 
tions.) 

VII. IVIovEMENTS BEFORE THE Battle. — Baum en- 
camped at Saratoga on August 11. That night at eleven 
o'clock he received a reinforcement of fifty chasseurs. On 
the 12th he started on his march at five o'clock in the morn- 
ing, and marched a mile, when a messenger from Burgoyne 
ordered him to post his corps at Battenkill and wait further 
Instructions. On the morning of the 13th, in consequence 
of orders from Burgoyne, he marched from Battenkill to^ 
Cambridge, and arrived at the latter place at four o'clock, 
p. M., a distance of sixteen miles. On this day's march he 
was joined by several of the country people. ^ During this 
march he also sent ahead thirty provincials and fifty 
savages to surprise an American army-guard with some 

1 " state of Vermont.— /n Council of Safety, Aug. 10, 1777. 
" To Col. John Williams, — 

" SiK : You will proceed with your party toward the lines, and if the enemy 
should retreat, you will repair to the road leading from St. Cork to Hoosack, 
and, if you make any di.scovery, report to tliis Council; at the same time, you 
are to pay proper attention to the road leading from Hoosack to I'ownal. 
" By order of Council, 

" Paul, Spooner, D. Secretary." 
•i Click. 



BAUM AT SANCOIK. 165 

cattle, of wbicli he ha,d received information. They took 
five prisoners, and continued their march, when they were 
fired on by a party of fifteen men, and returned the fire, the 
assailing party taking to the w^oods. At Cambridge they 
took some cattle, horses, carts, and wagons ; and Baum sent 
back from this place a dispatch to Burgoyne that he had 
been informed the Americans were eighteen hundred strong 
at Bennington. 

The affiiir at Cambridge of the 13th was immediatel}^ re- 
ported to Gen. Stark, at his head-quarters, by two scouts in 
the employment of the Council of Safety, Isaac Clark and 
Eleazer Edgerton.i At the time of their starting home- 
ward with this intelligence, however, the scouts were not 
apprised of the approach of Col.- Baum, and merely an- 
nounced the advance of a hostile party of Indians as far as 
Cambridge. Gen. Stark sent out two hundred men, under 
Lieut. -Col. Gregg, to stop them.^ 

On the morning of the 14th, Thursdaj', Col. Baum reached 
Van Schaik's Mills, and found Col. Gregg's party in pos- 
session. AVe will let him tell his own story with respect to 
what took place there : — 

" Sancohc, Aug. 14, 1777, 9 o'clock. 

" Sir : I have the honor to inforiu your Excellency that I arrived 
here at eight in the moiniing, having had intelligence of a party of 
the enemy being in possession of a mill, which they abandoned at 
our approach, but in their usual way fired from the bushes, and 
took the road to Bennington. A savage was slightly wounded. 
They broke down the bridge, which has retarded our march about 
an hour. They left in the mill about seventy-eight barrels of very 
fine flour, one thousand bushels of wheat, twenty barrels of salt, 
and about one thousand pounds' worth of pearl and pot ashes. I 
have ordered thirty provincials and an ofticcr to guard the provis- 
ions and the pass of the bridge. By five prisoners here they agree 

1 Father of the late Uriah Edgerton, Esq. 

2 Jesse Field to Gov. Hall. 



166 MEMORIALS OF A CRNTVJiY. 

that fifteen Imndred to eighteen hundred men are in Bennington, 
but are supposed to leave it on our approach. I will proceed so 
far to-day as to fall on the enemy to-morrow early, and malvesuch 
disposition as I think necessary from the intelligence I may re- 
ceive. People are flocliing in hourly and want to be armed. The 
savages cannot be controlled ; they ruin and take everything they 
please. " I am, etc., 

"F. Baum. 
" To Gen, Burgoyne. 

"Beg your Excellency to pardon the hurry of this letter; it is 
written on the head of a barrel." 

At Sancoik, Baum began to be seriously molested. A 
party of Americans fired on them a good deal from the 
underwood, "causing them some loss in several of the 
most forward among the savages." "At last, however, 
they retreated, abandoning a mill which they had pre- 
viously fortified, and breaking down the bridge, and, long 
before the latter could be repaired, thej^ were safe from fur- 
ther molestation." "The Americans, though they gave 
wa}'^ at last, fought like men conscious of their own prow- 
ess, and confident in the strength of the suj^port which was 
behind them ; and this, coupled with the rumors which had 
reached us relative to the amount of the garrison at Ben- 
nington, failed not to startle Col. Baum, and the boldest of 
his troops." ^ 

More com^Dlete information than the first report by the 
two scouts reached Gen. Stark, on the night preceding the 
14th that a large body of the enemy were approach- 
ing in the rear of the Indians. On the morning of the 
14th he rallied his brigade and what militia was at Ben- 
nington and vicinity ; sent to Manchester for Col. AVarner's 
men ; issued orders for all the militia about to come to him 
with all speed, and forthwith marched to meet the enemy. 

1 Click. 



liAUM ON THE FIFTEENTH. 167 

Some five miles on his way, he met Col. Gregg retreating 
befoi'e Col. Baum, and drew up his little army in order of 
battle. 

When the enemy came in sight they halted on a hill or 
advantageous rise of ground. Gen. Stark sent out small 
parties in their front to skirmish with them, which had a 
good effect. He killed and wounded thirty of the enemy 
without any loss on his side ; but the ground did not suit 
for a general action. He marched back about two miles 
and encamped ; called a council, and agreed upon a plan of 
attack for the next day. But it rained the 15th, and he did 
no more than skirmish. 

We will condense from Glide's narrative. Baum judged 
he could not reach the place of destination (Bennington 
storehouse) before sunset. " We bivouacked at the farm 
of Walmscott" (by Wallooraschoik River). The 15th, 
Baum's outposts were attacked and driven in. He himself 
was among the buildings of the locality with his regulars. 
He formed them into close column, and sent provincials 
and sharpshooters to sustain the outposts. " On seeing us, 
our savage allies uttered a yell, which seemed to strike panic 
into tlie bosoms of their assailants ; for the latter instantly 
paused, hung back, as it were irresolute, and finally re- 
tired." Americans kept up skirmishing attacks all da3^ 
Baum sent back for reinforcements, and commenced to for- 
tify to aAvait them. " Six or eight log-huts made up the 
farm of Walmscott, scattered here and there." " Baum 
kept the whole of his force, with the exception of a hundred 
men, on the north" (west) " side of the stream," "holding 
the road upon his flanks, and in front and rear, by the In- 
dians." " To complete his arrangements, he occupied the 
entire day and some portion of the night of the 15th." 
" Rain of the 15th in torrents," "to afford shelter against 
which human ingenuity has as yet devised no covering." 



168 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

The body of provincials and marksmen, who had advanced 
to assist in guarding the outposts, silently withdrew and 
joined the regulars in the breastworks, and there passed 
the night. 

Baum was instructed by Gen. Burgoyne to keep his ranks 
always in order, with military precision, and, in case of 
meeting an enemy that threatened to be too strong, to post 
his regulars in the most advantageous position for defence, 
and throw up entrenchments. This he did, selecting an 
excellent position, and making the best possible prepara- 
tions for defence. 

He had the Walloomsac ^ River (a fordable stream, but 
liable to be swollen by rains) in front ; across it, in front, a 
cleared bottom land and slope varying in width, and wil- 
derness beyond, covering undulating hills, which rise to a 
general elevation of considerable height. Across these up- 
lands, and hidden from Baum by intervening hills, was 
Stark's encampment, some two miles distant, and reached 
by a circuitous road. By Durnford's map^ it appears the 
country in Baum's front, east of the river, was extensivel}^ 
cleared, also southward over the Cambridge road, and 
elsewhere in portions, but tlie breastworks on the hill had 
woods immediately in front and down to the river, also on 
the right down to the road, with the exception of a cleared 
lot, and an unbroken wilderness on Baum's left to the 
northward, and on his rear to the westward. 

The hill selected for the main defence was high and ab- 
rupt, rising some three or four hundred feet, and washed at 
its base by the river, running here very nearly south. The 
Cambridge, or Sancoik, road from Bennington runs here 
nearly eastwardly, until it has crossed the run, making 

1 The same called AValmscott by Glick ; Wallumscoik by others. 

2 Map of liieut. Dtirnfoid, Col. IJaum's Engineer, and published in Burgoyne's 
State of the Expedition. 



GENERAL STAJiX's FOJRCE. • 169 

neaiij^ a right angle with the river, with a steep ascent from 
the road to the redoubt. Baum's main intrenchment was 
at the highest elevation on this hill. 

According to Dm-nford's map, within the main fortifica- 
tion were Eiedsell's Dragoons and a corps of Canadian 
Rangers ; some paces in advance, down the declivity, were 
also stationed some of Eiedsell's Dragoons ; at the foot of 
the hill in front, by the river, chasseurs were posted. B}-- 
the river to the right, at the bridge of the Sancoik road, 
and on both sides of the road, were minor fortifications, 
where were Canadian Rangers and German Grenadiers ; over 
the river, and less than a quarter of a mile distant on rising 
ground, were also considerable fortifications, and here Baum 
posted Peters' corps of Provincials: It was called the tory 
breastwork. Here Pfister, popularly known as Col. Pfister, 
a retired British lieutenant of the French War, is believed 
to have had immediate command. ^ This tory breastwork 
was nearly south-east of Baum's intrenchments on the hill, 
and at a considerably lower elevation. 

According to Durnford's map he also had Canadians at 
the river across the bridge; and down the hill on his right, 
near the Sancoik road, and a quarter of a mile west of the 
bridge, some grenadiers. His fortifications and breastworks 
are stated to have been of earth and timbers, in perfecting 
which he employed much of the day and night of the 
15th. The precise location of the artiller}' and cannon 
does not certainly appear. They were doubtless so dis- 
posed as to render most effective service. One or both of 
the cannon was within the main redoubt ou the hill during 
the severest part of the struggle. 

These were the defences and militar}^ preparations which 
Gen. Stark, with the advice of Col. Warner and the other 
officers, determined to attack on the 16th. 

' Vermont Historical Magazine. 
15 



170 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

" His force consisted of three regiments of New Hamp- 
shire militia, respectively commanded by Colonels Hubbard, 
Stickney, and Nichols ; a small body of militia from the 
east side of the mountains, under Col. William Williams, 
of Wilmington ; a corps of rangers then forming under the 
authority of the Vermont Council of Safety, commanded by 
Col. Hcrrick ; a body of militia from Bennington and its 
vicinity, Nathaniel Brush, colonel, of which there were two 
companies from Bennington, the one commanded by Capt. 
Samuel Robinson, and the other by Capt. Elijah Dewey. 
He had just been joined by part of a militia regiment from 
Berkshire County, under Col. Simmons, making his whole 
force to amount, probably, to about eighteen hundred 
men." ^ This estimate would include volunteers. Gen. 
Stark speaks of his little army. 

The plan of attack was as follows : Col. Nichols, with 
two hundred men, taking a wide circuit through the woods 
northward of Baum's redoubt, was to get upon the rear of 
his left undiscovered to the last moment possible by him. 
Cols Herrick, with three hundred men, taking a wide circuit 
southward, was to get in like manner upon the rear of 
Baum's right. These two to join and commence the attack. 
Meantime, to divert attention from that proceediug, upon 
the success of which everything else very much depended, 
Colonels Hubbard and vStickney were to get before the tory 
breastwork, and one hundred men. to march toward the 
front of Baum ; Gen. Stark, with the remainder of his force, 
was, at the right time, to charge Baum's intrenchments in 
front. 

VIII. The Battle. — The plan appears to have been 
carried out with remarkable completeness. As the orders 
were given, and the several parties were about to enter 

1 Yermoiit Historical Magazine. 



STATEMENT OF SILAS WALBRIDGE. 171 

upon the performance of the duties severally assigned them, , 
Gen. Stark in his saddle, pointing in the direction of the V 
enemy, made this laconic address : " There are the red- ^ 

COATS, AND THEY ARE OURS, OR THIS NIGHT MoLLY StARK 
SLEEPS A "WIDOW." 

On the map before mentioned the positions severally of 
Stark's men before the action had commenced, or before it 
had proceeded far, appear to be represented. Bodies of 
Americans are well advanced on the road leading south- 
westerly to Baum's front ; another body of our troops have 
approached near to the tory breastwork, advancing in a 
north-westerly direction; a body, of Americans are also 
near the grenadiers and toi'ies, a quarter of a mile back on 
the Sancoik road ; and Nichols on one side, and Herrick on 
the other, have reached the coveted position in the rear of 
Baum's main intrenchments. After Nichols had started for 
his post he sent back to Stark for a reinforcement of a hun- 
dred men, and they were furnished him. 

Gen. Stark says, " About three o'clock we got all ready 
for the attack." The time previously to this must have 
been improved l)y Colonels Nichols and Herrick getting 
round to the rear of Baum's works ; and by manoeuvres 
and reconnoitering of Gen. Stark in front. 

Silas Walbridge, who was in Capt. John Warner's 
(brother of Seth Warner) compan}' and Col. Herrick's reg- 
iment of Vermont Rangers, and went with Col. Herrick, 
says 1 they went from Stark's encampment "west across 
the river (the Walloonisac flows northerly past the place 
of encampment, then curves westward, and soon takes a 
southerly direction past Baum's hill, and onward a short 
distance curves again westward, and so passes by Sancoik), 
crossed it again below Sickle's Mills (brick factory, now 
Austin & Patchin's paper mill, a mile and a half westward 

1 MS. statement communicated to Governor Hall. 



172 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

from Banm's Hill, on the Sancoik road), and came in on 
the rear of the Hessian redoubt." 

"Just before we arrived at the redoubt we came in sight of a 
party of Indians, and fired on them. They retreated to the north- 
west, leaving- two killed. Our men came within ten or twelve rods 
of the redoubt, and began firing from behind logs and trees, and 
continued firing and advancing until the Hessians retreated out of 
their works and down the hill to the south. We followed on down 
the hill to the level land on the river, and some pursued on fur- 
ther." 

Jesse Field, who was in Capt. Dewey's company of mi- 
litia, and went also with Col. Herrick, says^ they " crossed 
the river over against the camp, went over the hills, forded 
the river again below the enemy, and came up on their rear." 

" When we came in sight of the enemy's woi'ks we halted, and 
it seemed that the rear of our party had been detained for some 
cause. We stood but a short time when the firing commenced 
from the party on the north. I recollect hearing Lieut. ex- 
claim, 'My God, what are we doing? They are killing our broth- 
ers ; why are we not ordered to fire? ' In a moment our adjutant 
came up and ordered us to advance. We pressed forward, and as 
the Hessians rose above their woi-ks to fire, we discharged our 
pieces at them." 

Solomon Safford states ^ that he turned out with Capt. 
Samuel Robinson's company, and encamped with them the 
evening of the 15th at the bend of the river, half a mile north 
of Stark's encampment, and was ordered to remain behind 
and guard the knapsacks and other baggage during the 
16th. On the morning of the battle, after the company had 
started off with Col. Herrick, Gen. Stark and Col. Warner 
rode past him on horseback, and accosted him." 

Thomas Mellen, the veteran whose statement is given in 
Mr, Butler's address, says : — 

l>2 From MS. statements communicated to Governor Hall. 



TIMK OF THE FIRST ACTIOX. 173 

"Stark and Warner rode up near the enemy to reconnoitre; 
were fired at with the cannon, and came galloping back. Stark 
rode with shoulders bent forward, and cried out to his men : 
'Those rascals know that I am an officer; don't you see they 
honor me with a big gun as a salute ? ' We were marched round 
and round a circular hill till we were tired. Stark said it was to 
amuse the Germans. All the while a cannonade was kept up upon 
ts from their breastworks. It hurt nobody, and it lessened our 
fear of the great guns. After a while I was sent, with twelve oth- 
ers, to lie in ambush on a knoll a little north, and watch for tories 
on their way to join Baum. Presently we saw six coming toward 
us, who, mistaking us for tories, came too near to escape. We 
disarmed them, and sent them under a guard of three to Stark. 
While I was on the hillock, I espied one Indian whom I thought I 
could kill, and more than once cocked my gun, but the orders were 
not to fire. He was cooking his dinner, and now and then shot 
at some of our people." 

Silas Walbricige speaks of the troops at Stark's eneainp- 
ment as parading early on tlie morning of the 16th for 
battle. 

There was then no lack of activity on our side. All were 
on the alert from early morning, but there was little if any 
firing b}^ our men until about three o'clock in the afternoon ; 
but the enemy kept up firing all day upon us whenever we 
showed ourselves to them, and where they were not deceived 
to think we were tories advancing to join them. 

Gen. Stark says, "The action lasted two hours." He 
appears to mean, from the commencement of firing by 
Nichols until the fight ended on the plain below. The 
manuscript statements of Saffbrd, Walbridge, and Field 
do not, perhaps, conflict with this, though they seem to 
make the time shorter. If there is any real discrepancy, it 
probably shows that to unprofessional soldiers fighting so 
severely and with so much at stake, the time in the recol- 
lection of many years afterward appeared to be shorter 
than it really was. They had n )t anticipated getting their 
15* 



174 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

work done so quickly. When the order came to go over 
■the breastworks it was then probably but a few moments 
ere the Hessians were dislodged. When that was done it 
seemed to our men as if really all was done. 

Jacob SafFord, orderly sergeant in AVarner's regiment, 

afterward ensign, ^ says : — 

• 

" Should think the action at Baum's Hill one and a half hour of 
scattering Are, then twenty-five to thirty minutes of close work." 

The onset upon all the works appears to have been 
simultaneous ; and the tory breastworks and other detached 
fortifications to have been carried early in the action, 
though particular accounts of this portion of the day's 
work are wanting. But if the outworks were carried with 
comparative ease, it was not so with the main intrench- 
ments, those on the hill, where was Col. Baum in person 
and his faithful veterans. They were slow to believe they 
were to be vanquished. They kept their cannon at work. 
They lined the breastworks. Nevertheless, our brave 
fellows, no less in earnest, pressed up upon every side. 
The instant or place of first entrance of the redoubt by our 
men does not now appear. It will assist to a more com- 
plete impression of the battle to introduce here further por- 
tions from Glick's interesting narrative : — 

"The morning of the IGth rose beautifully serene. The 
storm of the preceding day having expended itself, not a cloud 
was left to darken the heavens, while the very leaves hung 
motionless, and the long grass waved not, under the influence of 
a perfect calm. Every object around appeared, too, to peculiar 
advantage; for the fields looked green and refreshed, the river 
was swollen and tumultuous, and the branches were all loaded 
with dew-drops, which glistened in the sun's early rays like so 
many diamonds. Nor would it be possible to imagine any scene 
more rife with peaceful and even pastoral beauty. Looking down 

!i MS. comiuuiiicatioii to Governor Ilall. 



glick's naukative. 175 

fi'om the summit of the rising ground, I beheld immediately be- 
neath me a wide sweep of stately forest, interrupted at remote 
intervals b}' green meadows, or yellow corn fields, whilst here and 
there a cottage, or shed, or some other primitive edifice, reared 
its modest head, as if for the purpose of reminding the spectator 
that man had begun his inroads upon nature, without as yet taking 
away from her simplicity and grandeur." 

" At the dawn, no note of military preparation foreAvarn- 
ing an attack." Baum ordered his men to eat their break- 
fasts. Soon reports came that cohimns of armed men were 
approaching. Col. Baum was duped to believe that these 
were friendly tories, and called in his pickets. Capt. 
Frazer thought Baum was deceived, and so did most of the 
troops ; but not so Baum.^ 

»' We might have stood half an hour under arms, watching the 
approach of a column of four or five hundred men, who, after dis- 
lodging the pickets, stood in the edge of the open country." 
" Then trampling of feet in the forest on our right." 

A patrol sent. Encountered a discharge of fire-arms. In- 
dians came in in dismay. 

"Then we are surrounded on all sides." 

Then firing and shouting. Then the column in front 
pressed up. Then traitors inside fired at the dragoons, and 
withdrew. 

" We lined the breastworks and fired well ; the advancing columns 
fell back at first; but fresh attacks developed themselves at every 
point." " All threatened Avith a force perfectly adequate to bear 
down opposition, and yet by no means disproportionately large, or 
such as to render the main body inefiicient." 

The Indians fled, when in the rear of right and left ap- 
peared tlie enemy's (Stark's) columns.^ 

1 Gen Stark's pl.an of the day, to make no actual assault until all was gotten 
ready, probably favored this halluchiation of liaum. 

^ When Col. Nichols commenced firing, coming up on the rear left, and Col. 
Herrick approached, firing on the rear right, the Indians, alarmed at the pros- 



176 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

"The vacancy which the retreat of the savages occasioned was 
promptly flUed up by one of our two field-pieces, whilst the other 
poured destruction among the enemy in front as often as they 
showed themselves in the open country or threatened to advance. 
In this state of things we continued upwards of thi'ee-quarters of 
an hour. Though repeatedly assailed in front, flank, and rear, we 
maintained ourselves with so much obstinacy as to inspire a hope 
that the enemy might even yet be kept at bay till the arrival of 
Breyman's corps, now momentarily expected." 

The solitary tumbril containing all the spare ammunition 
exploded with great violence, shaking the earth. The 
enemy (forces of Stark), arrested a moment by the vio- 
lence of the concussion, guessed the nature of the affair, 
then rushed up the ascent, sprang over the parapet, 
and dashed within the works, — baj^onet, butt, and rifle 
in full pla}'. A few moments finished the work. Glick, 
with thirty of his comrades, cut their way through, and he 
escaped. 

It is presumed, not until all hope of recovering the day 
by further standing their ground was utterly lost. All ac- 
counts agree as to the strange valor of these German hire- 
lings. The Royalists and Canadians, as many as could 
escape, had taken to the woods ; but the Hessians, though 
their works were forced and their cannon captured, pre- 
served their discipline and fought braveh^ until there was 
not a cartridge left, then drew their sabres and charged the 
Americans, with their colonel at their head. They were 
nearly all killed or taken with Col. Baum, who did not sur- 
render until wounded fatally.^ 

pect of being surrounded, endeavored to make their escape in single file be- 
tween the two parties, with their horrid yells and the jingling of cow-bells. — 
Thacher. 

1 Andrews. — The story of the impressment of these Hessians into the British 
service by the petty sovereigns of Germany is an affecting one. They were 
gathered by force, locked up in fortresses to prevent their desertion, marched 
to tlieir place of embarkation without ammunition or arms, but under the com- 



BRAVERY OF THE AMERICANS. 177 

Jesse Field saj's : ^ — 

They " ran down the hill to the south and south-east.'- We ran 
over and round their works after them, and continued the pursuit 
until the}' were all, or nearly all, killed, or taken. The day was 
very warm, the Hessians were in full dress, and very heavily 
armed, and we in our shirts and trowsers, and without our knap- 
sacks, and thus had greatly the advantage in the pursuit. After 
we passed the redoubt there was no regular battle, — all was con- 
fusion, — a party of our men would attack and kill, or take prison- 
ers, another party of Hessians. Every man seemed to manage 
for himself, and, being attached by chance to some squad, either^ 
under some officer, or without any, would attack every party that 
came in their way. I should think I did not continue in the pur- 
suit over half a mile, though some parties went further, — probably 
nearly down to Runsellan's ]\Iills." 

Gen. Stark, in his despatcli to Gen. Gates, referring to 
this action of storming the redoubt, says of it : — 

" The hottest I ever saw in my life : it represented one contin- 
ued clap of thunder." 

Again : — 

" They were all environed with two breastworks with their ar- 
tillery; but our martial courage proved too hard for them." 

He is also quoted as saying, " Had each man been an 
Alexander or a Charles of Sweden, he could not have be- 

mand of trusty yagers who had both, and were ever ready to nip routiny in the 
bud. Some did desert. Some attempted to mutiny, and were fired into. It was 
a measure of cruel and base tyranny and oppression. — Bancroft, vol. ix., pp. 316, 
317. " England entered early in 1776 into treaties with the petty sovereigns of 
Germany to take into British service nearly twenty tliousaud German troops. 
Over four thousand of them were Bruswickers. Over these latter Col. Riedsell 
was major-general — a portion of them was Lieut. -Col. Baum's regiment of dis- 
mounted dragoons; a portion, Lieut. -Col. Breyman's grenadiers. Of the four 
thousand Brunswickers, about twenty-eight hundred returned to Germany." — 
Burgoyne's Orderly Book, pp. 103, 104. See Irving's Life of Washington, ii., 196 
Beside the subsidy exacted by the Germnn princes, they were to be paid seven 
pounds, four shillings, and four pence, sterling, for every soldier furnished by 
them, and as much more for every one slain. — Irving. 
1 MS. statement. 2 After being forced from their works. 



178 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

havecl more gallantly." A Hessian eye-witness declares 
that this time " the Americans fought with desperation, 
pressing within eight paces of the loaded cannon to take 
purer aim of the artillerists." ^ Andrews, the British au- 
thor, says : " Gen. Stark advanced upon Col. Baum with 
the utmost diligence, and inclosed him on all sides. The de- 
fences he had raised were forced after a valiant resistance." 

Immediately after their hard-earned victory, prisoners 
already captured were to be sent under guard to a S(;cure 
place, and some pursuit, if possible, still maintained to 
eifect more captures. The wounded were to be cared 
for, — persons still living speak of beds and bedding, sent 
out for this purpose, afterward bearing blood-stains. Our 
dead were to be reverently conveyed to their homes. Col. 
Baum and the tory Col. Pfister, both mortally wounded, 
were separately borne to a house a mile and a half this 
side of the battle-field. Col. Pfister, a part of the way on 
the back of Jonathan Armstrong, of Shaftsbur3\ They 
both died within twent^^-four hours. Capt. Robinson, who 
guarded the house where Baum lingered in his last hours, 
and watched gently as a woman with him till he died, was 
wont to sa}^, that " a more intelligent and brave officer he 
had never seen than this unfortunate lieutenant." ^ Xhe 
spoils of victory, too, were to be gathered. Gen. Stark had 
promised, in his orders, that all the plunder in the enemy's 
camp should be distributed among the soldiers ; beside all, 
many of our brave fellows, neither wounded nor slain, were 
scattered about, thoroughly exhausted by their exertions in 
the fight. 

But WQ must return to the battle, which is not yet 

1 Irving's Lifn of Washington. — "New England sharpsliooters ran up within 
eight yards of the loaded cannon to pick otftlie cannoiiiers." — Bancroft, quoting 
Schlcizer's IJriefwechscl. " The royal officers were astonished to see how un- 
dauntedly they rushed on the mouths of the cannon."— Gordon. 

2 Rev. S. Robinson's Address. 



ARRIVAL OF BREYMAN. 179 

finished. Bauiu aud the remnant of his forlorn hope had 
probably not yet ceased fighting, when Bre3'man arrived 
at Sancoik with his formidable corps-de-reserve. Each sol- 
dier had forty ronnds in his pouch, and there were two 
boxes of ammunition on the artillery carts. ^ 

Breyman left Battenkill at nine o'clock of the 14th, 
his order to march having been received by Sir Francis 
Clarke at eight o'clock. His guide lost his way at one 
time. On the evening of the loth he halted seven miles 
before reaching Cambridge. The men lay upon their 
arms all night. He sent a message to Baum and got a re- 
turn next morning. He started again, on the morning 
of the 16th, and reached the Sancoik mill at half past 
four, p. M., and found the advanced guard in possession, 
which he had previously sent on — (sixty grenadiers and 
chasseurs, and twenty riflemen) — and Col. Skene direct- 
ing. "I had scarcely passed the bridge when I perceived 
a considerable number of armed men making for the hill on 
my left flank, some in jackets, some in shirts. Col. Skene 
said they were royalists, but they fired into us."" Here 
Col. Brej^man's part in the Bennington battle began in 
earnest. 

Gen. Stark's men, it is evident, were in no condition to 
meet this fresh and more powerful foe. It is said it was 
with great difficulty he himself could be roused to meet the 
new danger, so worn out and stiflPened had he become. 
Contrary to his first impression, and on the earnest appeal 
of Warner, Col. Bre^'man was immediately resisted, instead 
-of a retreat being ordered, to form the scattered forces in 
order of battle.^ 

They opened an incessant fire from their artillery and 
small arms, which was, for a while, returned by the Ameri- 

1 Breyman's dispatch. 

2 Col. Breyman's dispatch. 

3 Vermont Hist. Mag. 



180 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

cans with much spirit ; but, exhausted aud overpowered by 
numbers, we at length began slowly, but in good order, to 
retreat before the enemy, disputing the ground inch by 
inch.l Firing into their flank, and, at the same time, keep- 
ing in front of them, though retreating, and firing into 
them that way, so as not to be outflanked by them. 

Early, however, in this unexpected encounter with Brey- 
man. Col. Warner's men came upon the fleld, and most op- 
portunely indeed for our cause. 

Warner himself was already here ; " was with Stark, at 
Bennington, for several days previously to, aud remained 
with him until after, the battle, assisting him in planning 
the first and conducting both actions." ~ His regiment (or, 
rather, tlie remnant of it, it having been sadly wasted at 
Hubbardtou) was stationed at Manchester. At the sum- 
mons of Stark, the men, about one hundred and thirty in 
number,^ so soon as they could be collected together, 
started for Bennington. They marched the rainy night 
of the 15th, under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Saf- 
ford ; stopped, the forenoon of the 16th, to get rested 
and dried, and to put their firelocks in order, in Benning- 
ton, and, at the time mentioned, came upon the field. 

Thus reinforced, it was some little time before we 
made a successful stand against the enemy. The day had 
been nearly lost ;'* nor Avas it rescued without the most ar- 
duous and critical exertion. We had Baum's cannon to 
turn upon them ; but the}' had cannon of larger calibre ; 
and our brave fellows were worn out, thinned in numbers, 
hungry, taken by surprise, and not in battle array. 

The anxiety in the old village of Bennington grew in 

1 Thompson's Vermont. 

-, 3 Vermont Hist. Mag. William Carpenter of Swansea, N. H. — so his son 
Judge Carpenter, of Akron, Ohio, told me — used to relate, as what he himself 
heard, that the order was given, by Gen. Stark, to an aid, to retreat. Warner 
heard it, and said, " Stand to it, my lads; you sliall have help immediately." 

■4 Andrews. 



OEAL STATEMENTS AND MANUSCRIPTS. 181 

intensity as tlie day wore away.i Tlie Council of Safety 
remained in painful deliberation. A letter, still preserved, 
■written by Secretary Fa}^, at Bennington, at six o'clock, 
and sent hitlier and thither, as a circular dispatch, sa3^s : — 

" Stark is now in an action which has been for some time very 
severe. . . . . The enemy were driven; but, being rein- 
forced, made a second stand, and still continue the conflict. But 
we have taken their cannon, and prisoners, said to number four 
or five hundred, are now arriving." '^ Gen. Stark, in his dispatch, 
says, " The battle continued obstinate on both sides till sunset." 

But again " our martial courage proved too hard for 
them." Bre3'man's cannon, taken and retaken,^ remained in 
the hands of the Americans. Brejanan's " party were com- 
pelled to retire " as the British author ■* carefully saj'^s. They, 
however, so man^^ of them as could, retired at the last very 
hastily. It was well for those who did escape that night 
was so near at hand. "We pursued them till dark," says 
General Stark ; " but, had daylight lasted one hour longer, 
we should have taken the whole bod3'^of them." The strug- 
gle of that eventful day may be said to have ended where 
it the da}'^ before began, at the Sancoik mill. Breyman got 
back that night (of the 16th) to Cambridge, and the next 
day (Suuda^^) got back to camp.^ 

IX. Some Extracts from an oral Statement and MS. 
Communications. 

From oral statement of Mr. Mellen.^ — "Before I had time to fire 
many rounds, our men rushed over the breastwork, but I and 
many others chased straggling Hessians in the woods. We pur- 

1 Thompson's Vermont. Upon the alarm of the approach of the enemy to- 
ward Bennington, the people of the border flocked to the centre ; as did also num- 
bers from other towns. The place was crowded with fugitives. — Vermont Hist. 
Mag. 

2, 3 Butler. 4 Andrews. 

5 Col. Breyman's dispatch. 6 See Butler's Address. 

16 



182 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

sued till we met Brej'man with eight hundred fresh troops aud 
larger cannon, which opened a fire of grape sliot. Some of the 
grape shot riddled a Virginia fence near me ; one struck a small 
white-oak tree behind which I stood. Though it hit higher than 
my head, I fled from tlie tree, thinking it might be aimed at again. 
We skirmishers ran back till we met a large body of Stark's men, 
then faced about. I soon started for a brook I saw a few rods be- 
hind, for I had drank nothing all day, and should have died with 
thirst had I not chewed a bullet all the time. I had not gone a 
rod, when I was stopped by an officer, sword in hand, and ready 
to cut me down as a runaway. On my complaining of thirst, he 
handed me his canteen, which was full of x'um. I drank and for- 
got my thirst. But the enemy outflanked us, and I said to a com- 
rade, ' We must run or they will have us.' He said, ' I will have 
one more flre first.' At that moment a major on a black horse 
rode along behind us, shouting, ' Fight on, boys, reinforcement's 
close by.' While he was speaking, a grape shot went through his 
horse's head and knocked out two teeth. It bled a good deal, but 
the major kept his seat and spurred on to encourage others. In 
five minutes we saw Warner's men hurrying to help us. They 
opened right and left of us, and half of them attacked each flank 
of the enemy, aud beat back those who were just closing around 
ns. Stark's men now took heart and stood their ground. My gun- 
barrel was by this time too hot to hold, so I seized the musket of 
a dead Hessian, in which my bullets went easier than in my own. 
Eight in front were the cannon, and, seeing an oflicer on horse- 
back waving his sword to the artillerymen, I fired at him twice; 
his horse fell. He cut the traces of an artillery horse, mounted 
him, and rode ofl". I afterward heard that officer was Major Skene. 
Soon the Germans ran and we followed." 

From narrative of Jesse Field. ' — " When the prisoners were col- 
lected, they were sent ofl" under a guard to Bennington. Our 
men were scattered all over the field of battle, some resting them- 
selves, some looking up the dead and wounded, aud others in pur- 
suit of plunder. An hour or two before sunset I heard the report 
of cannon, and news soon came that our men were attacked by a 
body of Hessians who had come to reinforce Baum. I with 
otliers went down on the side-hill north of the road. When we 

1 Communicated in MS. to Gov. Hall, and in his possession. 



XAEKATIVE OF JACOB SAFFORD. 183 

came iu sight of the euemy, thej^ were marching up the road this 
side the brick factory, their cannon iu front clearing the way. 
Our men kept collecting iu front and on the left. The party I was 
with took post with others on the side-hill above the road, within 
from twenty to thirty rods of the euemy, and kept up a constant 
fire generally from behind trees. The road appeared full of men, 
and it was like firing into a flock of sheep. The enemy kept fir- 
ing upon us, but we were greatly protected by the trees. The bat- 
tle continued till about dark, wheu the euemy retreated and were 
not pursued far." 

From narrative of Silas Walhridge. ' — " After the battle was 
over I went back with Captain Waruer to where the action began, 
to look for the wounded, and while there we heard firing, the begin- 
ning of the second battle. We made all haste to the scene of 
action, and found things iu much confusion. Some of the oflicers 
were ordering ' forward,' others saying ' retreat.' Our men re- 
treated for some time, finallj^ made a stand, and after hard fight- 
ing till about night we drove the enemy and took their cannon. 
This battle lasted an hour and a half or two hours. Warner's 
regiment, I believe, kept in order on the retreat, and served as a 
rallying point for the other troops." 

Capt. Jacob SafforcVs statement, talcen in 1828. 2 — (Jacob Safford after Ben- 
nington battle was an ensign in Col. Warner's regiment, as appears by a vote 
of Congress, accepting his resignation November, 18, 1779. — 3d vol. Jour. Cong., 
395. He was a worthy man and died in Bennington in May, 1S33.) Jacob Saf- 
ford says that previous to Bennington battle he belonged to Warner's regiment 
and acted as orderly sergeant in Captain s company. 

" After the battle of Hubbardton, by which our regiment was 
reduced to less than one hundred and fifty men, we were sta- 
tioned at Manchester. On the lith of August, I should think, 
information was received that we were wanted at Bennington, 
but, owing to the absence of a large scout under Captain John 
Chipman, and perhaps from some other causes, we did uot march 
till the morning of the 15th. The day was rainy, but by 
marching till uearl}' midnight w.e arrived within about a mile of 
Bennington village and encamped. We were drenched with rain, 

1 Communicated to Gov. Hall, and in his possession. 

2 Communicated in manuscript to Gov. Hall, and in his possession; and the 
note at the head of the statement is his. 



184 3IEM01UALS OF A CENTURY. 

and our arms and equipments having been all day exposed to the 
weather, it took a considerable part of the forenoon of the next 
day to fit ourselves for a march. We were also short of ammuni- 
tion, which occasioned some delay, and so much time was em- 
ployed in making the necessary preparations for battle, that it was 
about noon, or perhaps a little past, when the regiment marched 
from Bennington village. While going down the Henderson hill 
[two miles from Bennington] a scattering fire of musketry was 
commenced in the direction of the battle-ground. We halted a 
short time at Stark's encampment [four miles from Bennington] ; 
left our coats and knapsacks ; and a gill of rum with water was 
dealt to each man. The weather was exti-eraely warm, and after 
crossing the first bridge [about five and three-quarter miles from 
Bennington] we were halted while the men drank at the river. 
Two sergeants were now requested to volunteer to head the line, 
and I with another went in front. About this time the firing, 
which had gradually increased, became very heavy, and a general 
attack seemed to be made. We now began to meet the wounded, 
and when we arrived at the second bridge, > [three-quarters of a 
mile below the first], the Hessians were running down the hill, 
and the two pieces of cannon were taken. If we halted at all at 
this place, it was but for a very few minutes. Here I was put iu 
command of the left flank guard, and the march was continued 
by the regiment down the road, and by myself and guard across 
the flat. There was also a flank guard on the right. We con- 
tinued our march until we came to the top of the eminence next 
beyond where the brick factory now stands [one and a half miles 
below the second bridge], where I found the regiment had halted. 
On inquiring the cause, I was told that a reinforcement of the 
enemy was near. I mounted a fence, and saw the enemy's flank- 
guard beyond the next hill, say half a mile distant. We were 
then ordered to form a line for battle, by filing to the I'ight; but, 
owing to the order not being understood in the rear, the line was 
formed by filing to the left, which brought many of our men into 
a sort of swamp, instead of on the hill above, where we should have 
been. We, however, waited the approach of the enemy, and com- 
menced firing as they came up ; but owing, as I think, to the un- 
favorable nature of the ground, we soon began a retreat, which 
was continued slowly and in good order, firing constantly for 

1 Since known as Barnet's Bridge. 



liESULTS OF THE BATTLE. 185 

<about tbree-qnartei's of a mile, until we readied the higli grouud 
west of the ruu of water, where we made a stand. The enemy- 
had two pieces of cannon in the road, and their line extended 
a considerable distance both below and above the road. A party 
of Hessians undertook to outflank us on the right, and partly suc- 
ceeded, but were finally repulsed and driven back. The action 
was warm and close for nearly two hours, when it being near 
dark the enemy were forced to retreat. Oue of their pieces of 
cannon was taken near the run, and the other a few rods below 
the brick factory." 

X. Eesults of the Battle. — In these two engage- 
ments the Americans took, according to Gen. Stark, " fonr 
pieces of brass cannon, seven hundred stand of arms and 
brass-barrelled drums, several Hessian swords, about seven 
hundred prisoners, two hundred and seven dead on the 
spot, the number of wounded yet unknown." ^ " Lieut.- 
Col. Baum, one major, seven captains, fourteen lieutenants, 
four ensigns, two cornets, one judge-advocate, one baron, 
one aide-de-camp, one Hessian chaplain, three Hessian 
surgeons." ^ " Our loss was inconsiderable ; about forty 
wounded and thirty killed." ^ 

Of the trophies, one Hessian gun and bayonet, one broad- 
sword, one brass-barrelled drum, and one grenadier's cap, 
were presented to each of the States of Vermont, New 
Hampshire, and Massachusetts. Letters of thanks were 
returned by these States to Gen. Stark. 

A broadsword, taken from Col. Baum on the field of bat- 
tle, by Lieut. Thomas Jewett, of Capt. Dewey's company, 
afterward purchased by David Robinson, Esq., is now in 
the possession of G. W. Robinson. A set of draughting 
instruments, a map of the route from St. Johns, along the 
Lakes Chaniplain and George and the River Hudson, and 

1 stark to Gen. Gates. 

2 Stark to the General Court of New Hampshire. — Dawson. 

3 Stark to Gates. 

16* 



186 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

a lieut.-coloners commission of Col. Pfister, fell into the 
bauds of one of his two capturers, Jonathan Armstrong, 
and are in the possession of his grandson, the Hon. L. B. 
Armstrong, of Dorset.^ Of the cannon, two, doubtless 
those of Col. Baum, taken at the redoubt, rated by theAVar 
Department as three-pounders, ^ are in the State House at 
Montpelier. 

The remains of Col. Baum and Col. Pfister, whose deaths 
have been already mentioned, were buried near the bank of 
the river, a few rods below the paper-mill of Messrs. Hun- 
ter & Co. There is nothing to mark the spot, and the 
place of their interment is not known. ^ 

Of the Hessian prisoners who died, many were buried in 
a place still kept vacant in our church-j^ard. 

The tor}^ prisoners were marched into the village bound 
two by two. The women took down their bedsteads to get 
ropes to string them on. They were a care, and probably a 
vexation, to the Council of Safety for a long time. Capt. 
Samuel Robinson was chief overseer of them. There are 
many entries concerning them in the records of the Council • 
of Safety ; one to Capt. Robinson to detach ten of them, 
under proper officers, to tread and beat down the roads 
(drifted with snow in January') from this place through the 
Green Mountains to Col. William Williams' dwelling-house 
in Draper, alias Wilmington ; and back again " in the same 
manner to this place, with all convenient speed." By an 
entry, September 4, 1777, it appears the prisoners were in 
Capt. Dewey's barn, or some of them. They were ordered 
to be removed to the school-house ; " if there is sufficient 
room for them in the meeting-house " (probably with what 
are already there) " they are to be removed to the meeting- 
house in lieu of the school-house," — always with a proper 

1 Vermont Hist. Mag. 2 Butler's Adilress. 

8 Vermont Hist. Mag. 



GENERAL RESULTS OF THE VICTORY. 187 

guard over them. Some were put on the limits of their 
own farms ; some were banished the town under penalty of 
death if they should return.^ Some, it is said, were sent 
to the mines at Simsbur}-.^ The number of tories taken 
prisoners has been stated as one hundred and fifty- 
seven. ^ 

In after 3^ ears the military reputation of BeJinington rose 
high. The Rev. Mr. Avery says of the town, in his Narra- 
tive, 1783 : — 

" lu regard to military prowess Beuuiugtou is thought to be sec- 
ond to uoue on the continent." 

The general results were of the highest possible impor- 
tance. This is true of their bearing upon the infant State 
of Vermont. 

Gen. Schuyler was a haughty, aristocratic New Yorker ; 
owing his place to social position, not to military talent, 
and despising New England ; refusing to answer an official 
letter of Ira Allen, Secretaiy of our State government, 
without addressing him as a private man.^ Gen. Stark 
was ordered to report to Gen. Schuyler, and refused to do 
so, and was censured for it in Congress, where New York 
was all powerful, and Vermont unrecognized.^ But some 
days before this vote of censure upon Gen. Stark, lie had 
fought and icon the battle of Bennington. The tidings had 
not reached Congress, because the post at that time re- 
quired five days to get from Bennington to Philadelphia. 
So soon as the glad news did arrive, Stark's refusal to re- 
port to Gen. Schuyler was forgotten ; and a vote of thanks 
adopted, at length, and Stark was appointed a brigadier- 
general in the arm}' of the United States.^ 

1 Vermont state Papers. 2 Butler. 3 Lossing. 4, 5 Bancroft. 

*> Congress, on Oct. 4, 1777, resolved, "That the thanks of Congress be pre- 
sented to Gen. ^tark, of the Xew Hampshire militia, and tlie officers and troops 
under his command, for their brave and successful attack upon, and signal victory 



188 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

Stark was, in spirit and action, and by association, a 
repi'esentative New Hampshire Grants man. He rose in 
estimation at Pliiladelpliia, and tlie petition of the New 
Hampshire Grants to be recognized as an independent 
State obtained a more respectful hearing. ^ 

The inhabitants of the Grants were reassured in their 
purpose ; and, outside the limits of their territor}^, men 
reasoned that if the Green Mountain Bo3^s could make of 
themselves a barrier of defence for the country, they had a 
right to self-existence as a commonwealth. 

By this victory on the "Walloomsac hope returned to the 
American people. The gift of trophies of the battle to 
Massachusetts was, and still is, suspended in the Senate 
Chamber at Boston, over the entrance, and opposite the 
Speaker's chair, and a copy of the letter of thanks is fas- 
tened to the wall just beneath the trophies, and is as fol- 
lows : — 

" Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 
"Boston, Dec. 5, 1777. 

" Sir: — The General Assembly of this State, take the earliest 
opportuuitj^ to acknowledge the receipt of your accept.able present, 
the token of victory gained at the memorable battle of Benning- 
ton. The events of tliat day strongly marked the bravery of the 
men, who, unskilled in war, forced from their entrenchments a 
chosen number of veteran troops of boasted Britons, as well as 
the address and valor of the general who directed their move- 
ments and led them on to conquest. This signal exploit opened 
the way to a rapid succession of advantages, most important to 
America. 

"These trophies shall be safely deposited in the archives of the 
State, and tliere remind posterity of the irresistible power of 

over, the enemy in their lines at Bennington; and that Brigadier Stark be ap- 
pointed a brigadier-general in the Army of the United States." — Journal of 
Congress, ili., 327. Yeas and nays required and talten; but one dissenting voice, 
— M. Cliase, of Maryland. 
1 Thompson's Vermont. ' 



OTHER TESTIMONY. 189 

the God of armies aud the honors due to the memory of the 
brave. 

" Still atteuded with like successes, may you loug eujoy the 
reward of your grateful country. 

" Jeremiah Powell, 

'■'■President of the Council. 
" Brigadier General John Stark." 

"The great stroke struck by Gen. Stark near Benning- 
ton," says Gen. Washington, in a letter to Putnam. i "The 
capital blow given the enemy by Gen. Stark," says Gen. 
Lincoln. 2 Bancroft pronounces this " victory one of the 
most brilliant and eventful of the war." 3 Baroness Eeid- 
sell, then in the British camp, wrote : " This unfortunate 
event paralyzed, at once, our operations." Clinton wrote : 
" Since the affair at Bennington, not an Indian has been 
beard of; the scalping has ceased. I do not apprehend, in- 
deed, any great danger from the future operations of Mr. 
Burgoyne." The Indians, in particular, were so disheart- 
ened, that nearly all of them immediately left the British, 
service, and about two hundred and fifty of them came 
over and joined the American army. The Canadians and 
tories also deserted in large numbers."* 

The terror of Burgoyne, and his confidence in himself, 
alike departed. In his instructions to Baum, before the 
battle, he wrote : — 

" Mount yonr dragoons ; send me thirteen hundred horses ; seize 
Bennington ; cross the mountains to Eockingham and Brattlebor- 
ough ; try the affections of the country ; take hostages ; meet 
me, a fortnight hence, in Albany." ^ 

1 Irving's Washington, iii., p. 170. 

2 Bennington, August 18. To Gen. Schuyler. 3 ix., 380. 
4 Thompson's Vermont. 

" At Bennington Stark gave the wound 
Which, like a gangrene, spread around." 

— From a poem by the Kev. Wheeler Case. 
6 See, also, Evitlence on the American War, given before the House of Com- 
mons, London, 1780, p. 77. 



190 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

Four da3's after the battle, he wrote to England thus : — 

"The HampsMre Grants, in particular, — a country unpeopled 
and almost unknown in the last war, — now abounds in the most 
active and rebellious race on the continent, and hangs, like a gath- 
ering storm, on my left." ' 

"The ideas entertained of the Americans, by Gen. Bur- 
goyne, now experienced a total revolution, and he declared 
that it would be impossible for Britain to succeed in her 
views, and that he should, on his return to England, recom- 
mend the recognition of their independence." ^ 

In what remained to be done, and in putting the finish- 
ing stroke upon Burgoyne's campaign, at Stillwater, on the 
7th of the following October, the Green Mountain Boys 
bore their full share. 



XI. Comparative Strength of Forces. — Authorities 
differ as to the numbers, particularly of Baum's expedi- 
tion and the reinforcement. As we are obliged to depend 
upon those who were beaten in the engagements, it is 
reasonable to assume that the numbers given will be too 
low rather than too high. Burgoyne, in his order of 
August 26, giving explanations for the unfortunate result 
of the battle, does not mention the great superiority of the 
enemy in numbers. ^ 

Burgoj'ne felt that very much depended upon the success 
of the expedition. In addition to what has been stated, in 
the fore part of this article, of his threefold object, and of 
his carefulness in fitting out the expedition, it may be 

1 Burgoyne's more private letter to Germain. 

2 Introduction to Burgoyne's Orderly Book. "Their measures are executed 
with a secrecy and dispatch that are not to be equalled." — Burgoyne's more pri- 
vate letter to Germain. " Your funds of men are inexhaustible, like the hydra's 
head: when cut off, seven more sprang up in its stead." — Gen. liurgDyue to 
Gates, at dinner, after his surrender, at Gen. Schuyler's. Orderly Book. 

3 Orderly Book, p. 82. 



NVMBEIt OF BAUM's FORCE. 191 

added, that he gave to Baum and to Col. Skene very care- 
fiill}^ prepared instructions ; and when news came of the dis- 
aster, he set out, with the fort^'-seventh regiment, to cover 
the retreat of the beaten detachments. It is not to be pre- 
sumed that he would trifle with the occasion b}^ sending, 
for an expedition of such importance in his estimation, an 
inferior force. He had high hopes, it is true, of the disaf- 
fection and number of the tories on the Grants ; but this 
would not, in his mind, it is presumed, justify any careless- 
ness. The best troops he had were selected for the expe- 
dition. 

Col. Baum wrote to Gen. Burgoyne, from Sancoik on 
August 14 : — 

"By five prisoners, taken here, they agree that from fifteen to 
eighteen hnndred are at Bennington. ... I will proceed so 
far to-day, as to fall on the enemy early to-morrow." 

Had his own numbers been very inferior in the compari- 
son, it is scarcely possible he could have sent back such 
word. Bancroft, who had access to German materials for 
this portion of history, which other authors on this sub- 
ject had not enjoyed,^ says: "More than four hundred 
Brunswickers, Hanau artillerists, with two cannon, the 
select corps of British marksmen, a party of French -Cana- 
dians, a more numerous party of provincial royalists, and a 
horde of about one hundred and fifty Indians." (This enu- 
meration leaves out the Mty chasseurs added after Baum 
had first started.) At the first engagement, certainly, not 
all the Hessians were killed or taken. Glide speaks of 
cutting his way through with thirty, a portion of whom 
escaped. The Hessians, after being routed on the hill, ran 
to escape ; and, doubtless, some few of them succeeded. 
The Indians made good their retreat from the first alfair, 

1 See Bancroft's Preface to the ninth volume of his Hist. United States. 



192 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

as did Capt. Fraser, with part of his company, and many 
of the provincials and Canadians. ^ And 3'ct, notwithstand- 
ing numbers did escape, the prisoners, in addition to the 
number of killed of the enemy, in this action, was very 
large. Aaron Hubbell made the following statement : 
" Was in the first battle. We left the battle-field as one of 
the guard placed over something more than six hundred 
prisoners captured in the first engagement." ^ 

With regard to Breyman's force, Stark, in his dispatch 
to Gen. Gates, calls it " a large reinforcement." Thacher, 
in his military journal, makes it to number one thousand 
regulars. Butler, without giving his authority, adopts the 
same number. This corjis cle reserve was ordered to march 
after a true statement was sent back, by Baum, of the 
number of the Americans. In a general enumeration of 
the spoils of victory, more than one author says one thou- 
sand stand of arms, besides the dragoon swords. Bur- 
goyne's Orderly Book puts the killed, wounded, and pris- 
oners of the enem}^ at twelve hundred and twenty. On 
the whole, the writer of this article would judge the num- 
ber of the enemy, including tories and Indians, not to have 
been much if at all inferior to the number of our men, the 
aggregate of both engagements being considered. 

XII. Estimate of General Burgotne. — Burgoyne's 
prestige, after his defeat at Bennington and subsequent 
surrender at Stillwater (17th of October), was gone, of 
course, and the pompous style of his manifestoes, while on 
the flood-tide of success, naturally caused him, afterward, 
to be more reproached than were some of the other British 
generals. But it is unfair, notwithstanding his failure, to 
withhold from him the credit of an able and skilful mili- 

1 Burgoyne's letter to Lord George Germain. 
. 2 MS. iu possession of Gov. Hall. 



OUn MEN NOT TRAINED SOLDIERS. 193 

tary officer. He returned to England, of course, under a 
heavy cloud. But, in 1781, a committee being appointed 
to inquire into the conduct of the war, so far as it was 
shared in by Sir William Howe, Burgoyne obtained a 
chance to be heard ; and henceforth the stigma upon his 
name appears to have been removed. He rose again into 
favor and influence. Before this committee, " every officer 
that was examined gave the strongest testimony to his 
bravery and superior talents. It did not appear that a 
single fault had been found with any of his plans or move- 
ments by the most enlightened judges who were on service 
with him ; but it did clearly appear that he enjoyed the 
entire confidence of the army ; and that, in situations of 
the most trying nature, in the face of disaster, of danger, 
and of death, he was looked up to, by his troops, with the 
utmost atfeetion and the most undoubted reliance ; that 
they were, at all times, ready to suffer, to fight, and to 
perish with him." ^ 

These remarks are made as wliat justice to G-en. Bur- 
goyne requires, and because to unreasonably disparage the 
foe is to detract from the just merit of our success in his 
defeat. 

Xin. Our Men not Trained Soldiers. — In oi'der to 
appreciate the valor of the Americans, in the Bennington 
battle, their general want of military experience and train- 
ins: at that time must be considered. When Stark ordered 
the cannon taken from Baum to the scene of action, upon 
the arrival of Breyman, the men wliom he directed to load 
and fire knew not how to do it ; the general dismounted, and 
taught them, b}' loading one of the pieces himself.^, A 
glimpse at the destitution of Stark's New Hampshire' re- 

1 Burgoyne's State of the Expedition. 2 Jliacher. 

17 



194 MEMOniALS OF A CENTURY. 

cruits is given ns in a letter from his hearl-quarters at tlie 
fort in Number Four, on the Connecticut River, July 30 : — 

"We are detained by the want of bullet-moulds, as there is but 
one pair in town ; and the few balls sent on by the Council go but 
a little way." 

He also wrote, at the same time : — 

" If some rum could be forwarded, it would oblige us very much ; 
for there is none of that article in those parts where we are going." 

Many other things were wanting to Stark's little army ; 
he mentions kettles and cooking utensils ; none of these 
wants could be supplied from New Hampshire. Out of 
eleven barrels of powder at Number Four, nine had been 
condemned. The four cannon there had been dismounted, 
and apparatus for putting on carriages could not be pro- 
cur ed.^ 

After the battle, in all Stark's brigade there was but one 
case of amputating instruments ; there were no tents, and 
few pails and canteens.- Doctor Henr}' Clark relates that 
a resident of Bennington, who was a lad at the time of the 
battle, told him of the vivid impression made upon his mind 
by seeing the men hurrying past where he stood (he stood 
upon the corner since occupied by Mr. Patchin's store), 
with scythes and axes, as well as muskets and fowling- 
pieces, to meet the enemy. 

Some remarks of Mr. Everett, in his life of Stark, may 
be appropriately adduced on this point : — 

" Too much praise cannot be bestowed on the conduct of those 
who gained the battle of Bennington, oflicers and meu. It is, per- 
haps, the most conspicuous example of the performance by militia 
of all that is expected of regular veteran troops. The fortitude 
and resolution with which the lines at BiBiker Hill were main- 

1 Butler. 2 Sparks' Biography. 



INCIDENTS. 195 

tained by recent recruits against the assault of a powerful array 
of experienced soldiers have always been regarded witli admira- 
tion. But at Bennington the hardy yeomanry of New Hampshire, 
Vermont, and Massachusetts, many of them fresh from the plough, 
and unused to the camp, ' advanced,' as Gen. Stark expresses it, 
' through fire and smoke, and mounted breastworks that were well 
fortified with cannon.'" 

XIV. Incidemts. — Some facts and incidents ma}^ fur- 
tlier illustrate the spirit of our men, and the character of 
the conflict ; anecdotes of uncertain authenticitj^, but with 
verisimilitude in them. 

On the rain}^ night previous to the battle the men were 
under orders to remain in the encampment. David Robin- 
son, afterward Gen. David, being one of the volunteers, 
could not overcome the conviction that he might be true to 
his duty, and also improve the opportunity of the postpone- 
mput of the attack until next da}'', to go home, and see how 
it fared with the dear ones there. He had a young wife, 
and two young children, and an aged mother there. On 
his way he overtook his captain, who appeared to have 
reasoned as he did on the subject of domestic duty, and 
who lived on the road to the encampment. The young vol- 
unteer intended to pass the captain unrecognized, pulling 
his slouch hat over his face ; but he failed in this. The 
captain recognized him, and called out, " David, were you 
not under orders to stay in camp all night?" David re- 
plied, "I suppose a soldier's orders are to follow his cap- 
tain." 

When, on this occasion, he had reached home, he had 
not been there long before a neighbor came in, and said the 
tories and Indians were coming up the hill, from the valley 
east, and were in his cornfield. With his characteristic 
promptness and courage, that never knew fear, he pro- 
ceeded to reconnoitre. Upon his hands and knees, it being 



A 



196 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

pitch-dark, that he might get objects between himself and 
the sky, the bettei* to discern what there miglit be, he soon 
ascertained that what had occasioned his neighbor's alarm 
were the fire-flies of that August night, and some oxen that 
had broken into his corn. As he was returning, he stum- 
bled upon his old mother, who had started from the house, 
and alread}^ proceeded some distance, to be more sure of 
flight in case of an overwlielming attack from the enemy. 
She had with her a pillow-case full of valuable papers, and 
said to her son, "I thought I would tr}^ to save at least 
these, as they might be of more importance to you, some time, 
than other things." He said to her, " Go back, mother, 
to the house ; and, if we must die, let us all die together." ^ 

Capt. Samuel Robinson, mentioned in the foregoing par- 
agraph, w^as, no doubt, back to his post betimes. The fol- 
lowing anecdote will illustrate how he was not wanting to 
his duty. The roll of the large companj'^ he commandfid at 
that time will be given at the conclusion of this article. In 
the battle, he was loading and firing like the rest ; but a 
ball on one side of his head, siiiging just past his ear, made 
him dodge away from it. Soon came another on the oppo- 
site side, and the head jerked again, nervously, at the whis- 
tle. Mortified to think his neck w'as so limber, he turned 
around to his men, and said, " Boys, keep your eye on me ; 
and, if I dodge again, put a ball through me sideways." ^ 

Has the kind reader patience for two or three more Ben- 
nington battle anecdotes? Eleazer Edgerton, in the midst 
of the second engagement, was firing away from behind a 
tree, when suddenly he espied a very young man looking 
round anxiously for a standing-place alike Secure, "Here, 
boy," shouted he, " take va.y tree ; you fight behind, and I'll 
fight before. The rascals daren't shoot me ; the}^ know me." 

1 Uelated to the writer by Miss CuUhvell. 

2 Mr. Uubiuson's Address. 



ANECDOTES OF THE BATTLE. 197 

And in an instant he had planted his giant frame back to 
the trunlv of the tree ; and there he stood firing .until the 
Hessians did know him, and fear him, and fled beyond the 
reach of his bullets. ^ Leonard Eobinson, whose aim was 
quick and deadly, declared that every time he shot he saw 
a man fall. " But," said he, " I prayed the Lord to have 
mercy on his soul ; and then I took care of his body." ^ 

What queer notions they had of some things in those 
days may be illustrated b}'' an incident or two. 

" Old Uncle Silas Robinson was somewhat peculiar in his 
way of telling a stoi-y ; but his sharp voice used to give 
great effect to the account of his participation. ' I had 
heard,' said he, ' that these Robinsons were all cowards ; 
and I rather thought, if any of them was, I was the man. 
But somebody told me that gunpowder was good for cour- 
age ; so I took about a gill of gin, and thickened it up ; and 
when I had drank that, I tell you, then I fought.' " ^ 

Eleazer Hawks, whose reason for not coming early to 
the battle has been narrated elsewhere in this volume, made 
the more haste when he did come. He was, therefore, much 
parched and exhausted with running, and with the labors 
of the remainder of the battle. A pint of rum was handed 
him, and he drank it all, supposing it was water ; and be- 
fore the man who followed with water had time to offer him 
some, he said, '• Now give me some rum." The liquor he 
drank appeared to produce no ill effect. 

A hogshead of rum had been procured .by General Stark, 
and with a little more time would have been distributed at 
the termination of the first action. It was prevented by 
the so sudden appearing of Brej'^man. 

With respect to the exhausting effect of the fight, in the 
oral acount of the surviving soldier to' Mr. Butler, he 
says, " My compau}- lay down and slept in a cornfield, 

1, 2, 3 Mr. Robiasou's Address. 
17* 



193 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

near where we had fought, each man having a hill of corn 
for a pillow. When I awaked next morning, I was so 
beaten out, that I could not get up till I had rolled about a 
good whH,e." 1 

Of the interest of the ministry and the pulpit in the 
cause of patriotism, with respect to the Rev. Mr. Dewey, 
and the Rev. Mr. Averj^, mention is made elsewhere. The 
zeal of the Rev. Mr. Allen in the battle has become 
famous, partly' from its naivete. In accounts of the battle, 
he is called " Parson Allen " or " the fighting parson." He 
is believed to have been the Rev. Mr. Allen, pastor of 
Pittsfield, Mass. He came with the Berkshire detachment 
of militia. Col. Simmons. The story is thus told in Ever- 
ett's Life of Stark. " Among the reinforcements from Berk- 
shire County ,2 came a clergyman with a portion of his 
flock, resolved to make bare the arm- of flesh against the 
enemies of the country. Before dajdight on the morning 
of the 16th he addressed the commander as follows : — 

" ' We the people of Berkshire have frequently been called upon 
to fight, but have never been led against the enemy. We have 
now resolved, if you will not let us fight, never to turn out 
again.' 

" General Stark asked him if he wished to march then, 
when it was dark and rainy. 

" ' No,' was the answer. ' Then,' continued Stark, ' if the 
Lord shall once more give us sunshine, and I do not give 
ypu figliting enough, I will never ask you to come out 
again.' 

" The weather cleared up in the course of the da}^, and 

1 Mr. Butler's Address. 

2 The Rev. Mr. Noble, in his Williamstown Centennial Address, gives credit 
to the volunteers from that town in these words: "Every man in this town, 
except a cripple ou crutches, shouldered his gun and rushed to the field of con- 
flict." 



OUR DEAD. 199 

the men of Berkshire followed their spiritual guide into 
action." ^ 

In other parts of this volume mention is made of prayer- 
meetings held at the time of the battle, for the success of 
our arm}', by those who could not aid with weapons' of 
war. In Mr. Butler's Address is narrated a prayer meeting 
for the same object, held also at Williamstown, whither 
man}' from the north had repaired for safety, women and 
children, aged and infirm, in the event of the battle issu- 
ing adversely. 

"lu my bo3-liood, my grandmother often related to me, how, on 
that day, she, with many other women of WilUamstown, and their 
minister, resorted to their meetiug-house, and there continued in 
prayer for their kinsmen, who were in the field of blood, till late 
at night, when a courier came announcing glad tidings." 

The cannon peals were heard booming over the hills at 
Williamstown during the anxious hours. ^ 

The joy of the people of Bennington at the great victory 
was not unraingled with sadness. Four of its most re- 
spected citizens had fallen on the field of battle. They 
were John Fay (son of Stephen), Henry Walbridge (brother 
of Ebenezer), Daniel Warner (cousin of the colonel), 3 and 
Nathan Clark (son of Nathan, and brother of Isaac). They 
were all in the prime of life, and all heads of families, leav- 
ing widows and children to mourn their sudden bereave- 
ment. The grief for their loss was not confined to their 
immediate relatives, but was general, deep, and sincere."* 

1 See also American Revolution from Newspapers and Original Documents by 
F. Moore. 

i! Mr. Noble's Centennial Address. It is said that the smoke of the battle was 
distinctly .seen from Bemis' Heights, thirty miles distant. — Lossing. 

3 " Warner rode near us. Some one, pointing to a dead man by the wayside, 
said to him : ■ Your cousin is killed.' ' Is it Daniel ? ' asked Warner ; and when 
the answer was ' Yes,' he jumped off' his liorse, stopped and gazed in the dead 
man's face, and then rode away without saying a word." — Account of a surviv- 
ing soldier. •* Vermont Uist. Slag. 



200 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

The following are selected from some stanzas on the Ben- 
nington battle, written by E. H. Chapin, a native of Benning- 
ton (now the Rev. E. H. Chapin, D.D.), in 1837, and deliv- 
ered by him in the " Old Academy," in Bennington Centre : — 



" They came, as brave meu ever come, 

To stand, to fight, to die ; 
No thought of fear was iu the heart, 

No quailing in the eye ; 
If the lip ftiltered, 'twas with prayer, 

Amid those gathering bauds ; 
For the sure rifle kept its poise 

In strong, untrembling hands. 

" They came up, at the battle sound, 

To old Walloomsack's height ; 
Behind them were their fields of toil. 

With harvest promise white ; 
Before them those who sought to wrest 

Their hallowed birthright dear. 
While through their ranks went fearlessly 

Their leader's words of cheer. 

"My men, there are our freedom's foe. 

And shall they stand or fall? 
Ye have your weapons in your hands, 

Ye know your duty all ; 
For we — this day we triumph o'er 

The minions of the crown. 
Or Molly Stark's a widowed one 

Ere yonder sun goes down. 

" One thought of heaven, one thought of home, 

One thought of hearth and shrine. 
Then, rock-like, stood they in their might 

Before the glittering line. 
A moment, and each keen eye paused. 

The coming foe to mark, 
Then downward to his barrel glanced, 

And strife was wild and dark. 



CAPTAIN liOBINSOJSl's COMPANY. 



201 



" It needs no monumental pile 

To tell each storied name, 
The fair, green hills rise pi'oudly up 

To consecrate their f\irae. 
True to its trust, Walloomsack long 

The record bright shall bear. 
Who came up at the battle sound 

And fought for freedom there." 

Tke 16th of August, ever since the battle, has been ob- 
served, in Bennington and vicinit}^, as a patriotic holiday ; 
and, though not superseding the observance of Fourth of 
July, with the rest of the countr}^, is celebrated with no 
less spirit than is that great national anniversary. 

The roll of Capt. Dewey's military company, as it was 
constituted at the time of the battle, has not been pre- 
served. Of Capt. Samuel liobinson's company, the follow- 
in 2: is a list of the men in the battle : — 



Eobert Cochran, 
Gideon Spencer, 
William Henry, 
Henry Walbridge, 
Rufus Branch, 
John Larned, 
Thomas Abel, 
Nathan Lawrence, 
Josiah Brush, 
David Fay (flfer), 
Leonard Ro1>inson, 
Daniel Biddlecome, 
Levi Hatheway, 
Abram Hatheway, 
Reuben Colvin, 
Eliphalet Stickney, 
Daniel Rude, 



Benjamin Holmes, 
James Marivater, 
Mr. Alger, 
Ammie Fuller, 
Jonah Brewster, 
George Dale, 
John Marble, 
Ephraim Marble, 
Aaron Hubbell, 
Samuel Safford, Jr., 
Aaron Smith, 
Ephraim Smith, 
Samuel Henry, 
Edward Henderson, 
Jonathan Haynes, 
Archelaus Tupper, 
Daniel Warner, 



202 



MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 



Lieut. Simeon Hatheway, 
Aaron Miller, 
"^Sjohn Fay, 
Elijah Fay, 
Joseph Fay, 
John Clark, 
Jehoshaphat Holmes, 
"Moses Rice, 
Benjamin Whipple, Jr., 
Silas Robinson, 
John Weeks, 
Moses Scott, 
Alpheus Hatheway, 
Solomon Walbridge, 
Ebenezer Bracket, 
Jehiel Smith, 
Asa Branch, 
Phineas Wright, 
John Smith, 
Jesse Belknap, 
Sllvanus Brown, 



John Forbes, 
Stephen Williams, 
William Post, 
David Saflford, 
Jared Post, 
Jeremiah Bingham, 
Samuel Slocum, 
Josiah Hurd, 
Ezekiel Brewster, 
Solomon Leason, 
Thomas Selden, 
John Rigney, 
Elisha Smith, 
Solomon Safford, 
Joseph Roe, 
William Terrill, 
Noah Beach, 
Simeon Sears, 
David Robinson, 
Joseph Safford, 
Isaac Webster. 



Ode by Mrs. A. C. L. Botta.^ 

" Our patriot sires are gone ; 

The conqueror Death lays low 
Those veterans, one by one. 

Who braved each other foe ; 
Though on them rests death's sable pall. 
Yet o'er their deeds no shade shall fall. 

" No, ye of deathless fame ! 
Ye shall not sleep unsung, 
While freedom hath a name. 
Or gratitude a tongue : 



1 " Mrs. Anna C. (Lynch) Botta. She edited, in 1841, the ' Rhode Island Book ; ' 
in 185.3, published an illustrated volume of poems ; in 1855, was married to Prof. 
Botta, of New York city. Tlie last work of Mrs. Botta is the ' Hand- Book of 
Literature,' published in ISGO, and entitles the author to a handsome place among 
the prose writers in America." — Vermont Hist. Mag. 



ODE BY MRS. BOTTA. 203 

Yet shall j^our names and deeds sublime 
Shine brighter through the mists of time. 

' Oh, keep your armor bright, 

Sons of those mighty dead. 
And guard ye well the right 

For which such blood was shed ! 
Your starry flag should only wave 
O'er freedom's home or o'er your grave." 




CHAPTER XIII. 

PERSONAL NOTICES. 
Samuel Robinson, Esq., and Mrs. Marcy L. Robinson. 

S the best method of preserving some interesting 
incidents of the early history of the town and 
church, and some illustrations of the position and 
influence attained in early days by this community, 
some personal notices, it is deemed, will be accept- 
able to the readers of these pages. These notices 
will be confined to persons who came here, or were born 
here, at least a half century ago, including a few who have 
deceased during the writer's pastorate in Bennington, but 
who were much identified with the earlier persons and times 
of this community. 

The writer regrets a certain necessary injustice to indi- 
viduals in a work of this kind, both through the unequal 
treatment of some who are noticed, and the omission, doubt- 
less, of many who deserve to be commemorated. He can 
only say, that, though expending a^reat amount of labor 
upon tliis part of the volij^rae, he has been still obliged, very 
considerably, to use such materials as have happened to 
get into his possession. 

I. Samuel Robinson, Sen., Esq., was the acknowl- 
edged leader in the band of pioneers in the settlement of the 
town ; and continued to exercise almost a controlling au- 
thority in the aff"airs of the town, the remainder of his life.^ 

1 Veiinout Hist, Mag. 



SAMUEL ROBINSON, SEN. 205 

He was born at Cambridge, Mass., 1705. His father, 
Samuel Robinson, was born at Bristol, England, 1668. la 
the Rev. Dr. Hooker's printed sermon at the funeral of 
Gen. David Robinson, in a note, it is said that tlie elder 
Samuel Robinson is supposed to have been a distant con- 
nection of the Rev. John Robinson of Leyden (pastor on 
that side of the water to the Pilgrims of the Mayflower)'. 
Mr. Isaac T. Robinson stated to the writer that both Samuel 
(our Bennington pioneer) and his brother Thomas were 
confident thej^ were descendants of the Rev. John Robinson. 
Our Samuel Robinson, Sen., resided in Hard wick, Mass., 
twenty-six years before removing to Bennington. 

Many facts attest his ability : that he conceived, organized, 
and set on foot the settlement of this part of the country ; that 
he was so prompt and resolute to resist the claims of New 
York officials to the lands and jurisdiction of this territory. 
It is related, when the surveyors came from New York 
upon his lands, he cut their chain in two with his hoe, but 
when the}' desisted from their attempt he invited them into 
his house and treated them in the most hospitable man- 
ner ; that he w^as deputed to London, as representative of 
the settlers here, in the British Court, and enabled, as such, 
to gain the ear of His Majesty, and secure two very im- 
portant and significant orders from the crown in favor of 
the settlers, and against the government of the province of 
New York. 

Before his coming to Bennington he was an active and 
leading man in Hardwick. He was captain of a company 
in Col. Ruggles' regiment of provincials, and served as such 
on the frontier, in 1755, 1756.1 He was at the head of his 
companj'^ in the battle of Lake George, when the French were 
defeated by Generals Johnson and Lyman. He was a dea- 

1 Early Hist. Vermont, p 85, 
18 



206 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

con in the old church, and afterward in the Separate church 
in Hardvvick.i 

" He was commissioned a justice of the peace by Gov. 
Wentworth, Feb. 8, 17G2, being the first person appointed 
to a judicial office within the limits of the State. 

" In the summer of 1764 a controversy in regard to juris- 
diction arose inPownal between claimants under New Hamp- 
shire, and others under New York, in which the authority 
of Esquire Robinson, as a magistrate, seems to have been 
invoked. Mr. Robinson being at Pownal was, together with 
Samuel Ashley, a New Hampshire sheriff's deputy, and two 
other persons, arrested hy the New York sheriff and his 
assistants, and carried to Albany jail. This collision of 
officers produced a correspondence between the governors 
of the two provinces, which appears to have resulted in a 
sort of compromise, b}^ which Mr. Robinson and those with 
him were released on moderate or nominal bail, and, though 
indicted for resisting the New York officers, were never 
brought to trial. 

" In December, 17G5, when it Avas ascertained b}' the set- 
tlers under New Hampshire that their lands were being- 
granted from under them by Lieutenant Governor Golden, 
Mr. Robinson was deputed by those of Bennington and 
the neighboring towns to go to New York for the purpose 
of trying to persuade him to save their possessions from 
the grasp of the city speculators ; but his efforts were 
unavailing." ^ 

" There being no longer an}- hope of relief from the gov- 
ernment of New York, the claimants under New Hainpshire 
resolved to appeal for redress of their grievances to the con- 
science of the king, A petition was accordingly prepared 
and signed by over one thousand of the settlei's and grantees, 

1 Hardwick Centennial Address, by tlie llev. Lucius R, Paige. 

2 Vermont Hist. Mag., p. lOr. 



nox. w. s. JOB ^r SOX. 207 

and Samuel Robinson, Esq., was appointed their agent to 
repair to England and lay it before His Majesty." ^ 

" William SamuelJobnson, an eminent lawyer and states- 
man of Connecticut, was tben preparing to leave for Eng- 
land, as agent for that colony to tlie home government, and 
the petitioners employed him to assist Mr. Robinson in liis 
mission. They sailed in the same vessel from New York, 
the 25th of December, 1766, and landed at Falmouth, Eng- 
land, the 30th of January following, and reached London a 
few da3^s afterward." ^ 

Mr. Robinson was much hindered in his mission by the 
aristocratic prejudices at court against the republican set- 
tlers on the New Hampshire Grants, also by want of money 
and prestige ; ^ nevertheless he was, though not completely, 
in a verjr important degree successful. He seems to have 
shrewdly discerned the situation, and to have given the 
settlers at home sound advice as to the wise course for them 
to pursue under their difliculties. 

But, most valuable of all, " he so far pi'ocured the aid of 
the crown that Lord Shelburne, on April 11, 1767, addressed 
a letter to Sir Henry Moore, who had then become gov- 
ernor of the province of New York, forbidding him in the 
most positive terms from making anj' more grants of land 
in the disputed territory, and from molesting any person 
in possession under a New Hampshire title. And on 
the 24th of July following, upon a report of the case by the 
Lords of Trade, a formal order of the king in council was 
made commanding the Governor of New York ' upon pain 
of His Majesty's highest displeasure' to make no grants 
whatever of any part of the controverted lands, ' until His 
Majesty's further pleasure should be known concerning the 
same." ^ 

1, 2 Early Hist, of Vermont, p. 85. 3 ibid,, p. 90. 

4 Early Hist. Vprmont, p. W. For a copy of tlic petition sent by flie settlers 
for 3Ir. Kobinson to present to the king, and other documents of the correspond- 



208 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

The negotiations aj^pear to have made no fnrtlier prog- 
ress beyond this point. On the 27th of October following 
Mr. Robinson died of the small-pox, in London. Whether, 
had he lived, he would have been able to prosecute his 
labors, as agent of the settlers, to a complete and success- 
ful issue, we cannot divine. His past success and his 
sound judgment and skill would seem to have warranted 
high expectations. His death was felt by the settlers to 
be a great calamity. Upon his decease Mr. Johnson wrote 
a letter of condolence to his widow. This letter shows 
clearly that Mr. Robinson was high in the esteem of Mr. 
Johnson and others in London ; and, on that account, and 
as containing interesting particulars, it is inserted here. 
The original is in the possession of G. W. Robinson. The 
letter is as follows : ^ — 

" London, Nov. 2, 1767. 
*' Madam : — It is with the deepest concern and grief tliat I find 
myself obliged to communicate to you the sad intelligence of your 
dear husband's decease. He had enjoyed very good health, since he 
left America, till at length the misfortune which I always feared 
for him overtook him. He was seized with the small-pox, which 
but too generally proves fatal to Americans in this climate, and 
his appeared to be of a bad kind and very severe. Yet he bore up 
against the distemper, in all its rage, with great fortitude and 
patience ; and, till the twelfth day, we had hopes of his recovery 
(as the pocks had begun to turn), but the next day it took a sud- 
den and fatal turn, and it appeared that he had not strength of 

ence between the crown and the New York government, .ind details of Mr. Rob- 
inson's efTorts, see Early Hist. Vermont, pp. 85-97. 

1 Mr. Johnson was one of the three first chosen to represent the colony of Con- 
necticut in the Coiigioss of the IJevolulion. He was tlie first of the three dele- 
gates from Connecticut in the Convention wliich framed the Constitution of the 
United States, the others being Roger Sherman and Oliver Ellsworth. He was 
one of the Senators tirst appointed by the Legislature of Connecticut, under the 
National Constitution. — Kew Enghinder, April, ISGC). He had been sent to 
England, as agent of tlie colony of Connecticut, to argue for it an important 
cause before the i.ords in Council, and for five years remained tliere, entrusted 
with various public as well as private affairs. 



ESQUIRE nOEINSON's DECEASE. 209 

constitution sufficient to throw off the disease; and, on the 27th 
of October, at half past ten at niglit, he was no more! Such was 
the will of God. He was sensible to the last; was calmly resigned 
to the will of Heaven, and died full of faith. AVe have, therefore, 
— Avhich must afford you the greatest consolation, — good reason to 
believe that he has exchanged this life for a better, and rests in 
eternal felicity. He is much lamented by his friends and acquaint- 
ances here, who are many. You may rest assured that no atten- 
tion, care, or expense was spared for his comfort, and to have 
saved his life, had it been consistent with the designs of Provi- 
dence. He had two excellent nurses constantly by him. A skilful 
apothecary saw, and administered to, him every three or four 
hours. He was visited every day by an eminent physician, and 
his friends afforded him every consolation in their power. After 
his death, as the last act of friendship to his memory, I took care 
to furnish him a decent funeral, at which Gen. Lyman and the 
other gentlemen here from America attended \yith me as mourn- 
ers. He is interred in the burying-ground belonging to Mr. Whit- 
field's church, where he usually attended public worship. A club 
of American merchants and gentlemen, to whom he was known 
generously contributed eight pounds sterling toward defraying the 
expenses of his funeral, etc. ; and the remainder, as the accounts 
come in, — the amount of which I cannot yet determine, — I shall 
advance, not doubting that it will be, somehow or other, re- 
funded me. 

" I most siucerelj" condole with you in this great affliction, and 
pray God to give you comfort and to sanctify this melancholy 
event to you and all his family and friends, to whom I beg leave 
to present my compliments, and am, 

" Madam, your most obedient 

"And very humble servant, 

" William Sajiuel Johnson." 

Mr. Robinson had ten children, all born in Hardwick, 
one of whom died there at eleven years of age. The other 
nine removed to Bennington, became beads of families and 
members of the church. Their names were Leonard, Sam- 
uel, Moses, Silas, Marcy, Sarah, David, Jonathan, and 
18* 



210 MEMORIALS OF A CENTVRY. 

Anna. Of bis descendants some are to be found in almost 
every State and Territory in tlae Union. ^ 

II. Mrs. Marct (Leonard) Robinson, tbe wife of Sam- 
uel Robinson, Sen., Esq., was of Southbury, Mass., born 
in 1713. 

The following is an extract from a letter respecting her 
to tlie writer by her grand-daughter : ^ — 

"I suppose ray grandmother was quite a business w^oman. 
She was accustomed to take one of her sons with her, and 
ride to Albany on horseback, transact business, make her 
purchases, and return. I believe she would be gone several 
days, for she usually attended meetings there." 

When living in tlieir log-house, while her husband was 
still living, but in England, and her children, David and 
Jonathan and Anna, were with her, the wolves came up 
at night and tried at the doors and windows to obtain en- 
trance. She knocked upon the door to frighten them from 
the immediate proximity, then seized firebrands from the 
fire, opened the door and waved them and shouted with all 
her strength. The wolves fled away and were no more seen 
or heard by her. 

She is remembered for her great consistency and power 
of a Christian conversation. The volumes of Hopkins' 
divinity, which she much read, and many passages of which 
she marked as worthy of particular attention, are pre- 
served. It is matter of tradition that the Friday prayer- 
meeting, noted in the early history of this community, 
originated with her. It was first held, and for a long time, 
at her house. It was a custom, long continued by her, to 
have a prayer-meeting, at noon, on Sunday, at her house. 

1 Vermont Hist. Mag. 

n 3lrs. Allyn, chuiglitcr of Anna Robinson, Mrs. Webster, and in tlie seventy- 
nintb year of her age, residing in Cleveland, Oliio. 



ANECDOTES OF MRS. nOBINSOS. 211 

A traditional impression has been related to tlae writer, of 
religious services being customarily held in a log-house be- 
fore the erection of the first meeting-house. This was 
probably her house, — the same impression locating the 
log-house where her house stood. 

A manuscript obituar}' notice of her, for the press, has 
been preserved. The following are extracts from this 
notice : — 

" It was remarkable of the deceased, that her profession of re- 
ligion, eveu from earlj^ life, was regular, her piety the eflect of in- 
vestigation, and her hope the enlightened offspi'ing of a firmly 
grounded faith. For the last ten years of her life she was singu- 
lar for the eulargemeut of her views, the extension of her liber- 
ality of sentiment, aud her i-eading in ancient and modern history, 
both sacred aud profaue. She i-etaiued her usefuluess to the last 
eveuiug of her life ; aud the Sabbath previous to her decease she 
called her children together, took an aflectionate leave of them, 
and gave a succiuct account of her own views as to religious con- 
cerns, and the reason of her faith. In this remarkably aflecting 
interview, her narration and comments took up nearly two hours." 

The following anecdotes were related of her Ijy her son, 
Gen. David, to William Haswell : — 

While sitting in church, iu revolutionary times, when our 
mothers had resolved that they would not wear clothing of 
foreign manufacture, a ladj'^, who sat in the pew forward of 
her, had a plaid neckerchief which she admired so much, 
that she determined to get the lease (a technical expres- 
sion with weavers), and set herself to counting the threads. 
She felt rebuked, turned away, and fixed her eyes upon the 
minister ; but the handkerchief was still before her, and 
more potent than her sense of duty ; her mind recurred to 
the counting of the threads to get the lease, until, despite 
her good resolutions, the threads were counted and the 
lease obtained ; tlien, after heaving a sigh, she said to her- 



212 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

self, but so audibly as to be overheard, " Well, devil, j'ou 
have had your way this time." 

She was in the habit of conversing freely upon the sub- 
ject of her own decease. Her daughter inquired of her if 
she had any fear of death ; she replied, " I am not afraid, 
to be dead, but I am afraid I shall not honor m}^ Saviour 
in the hour of death." 

She died on the 4th of June, 1795. Her funeral was 
attended the Sabbath following, — it was sacrament day, — 
" by the greatest concourse of all since the town was set- 
tled." 1 

The following are two stanzas of a hymn, composed by 
Mr. Anthony Haswell, for the occasion, and sung at her 
funeral : — 

" She spake, and to her calm reproof 
The hardened sinner lent an ear; 
Blest were the tenants of her roof, 
Taught by her voice the Lord to fear. 

" She's gone ; her pilgrimage is o'er; 

She slept and breathed her soul to rest ; 
Her warning lips shall move no more. 
Nor pain for sinners heave her breast." 

■1 Obituary Notice. 




CHAPTER XIV. 

PERSONAL NOTICES. 

First Immigration. 

JRS. Bridget (Bro\yn) Harwood was in the first 
company of settlers in Bennington. She was a 
widow. She came with her children, Peter, 
Eleazer, Zechariah, Stephen, Abigail, and Hepzi- 
bah. She rode on horseback, a;s did the other 
ladies of the company. * As they neared the line 
they raced their horses, each vying with the other to be 
the first to pass over into the Bennington township. Thus 
they brought their effects on horseback, and came by the 
guidance of marked trees. She must have been a resolute 
mother. Her husband had deceased not quite three j^ears 
before, — Benjamin Harwood, born April 30, 1713, in Con- 
cord, Mass., where, also, his father, Peter Harwood, was 
born ; descended of English ancestors. 

She was born April 20, 1715, at Concord. After the 
birth of their first child, Peter, they removed to Hard wick, 
Mass. All of their children, with the exception of the old- 
est and youngest, were born in Hardwick. They then 
removed to Amherst, Mass., and thence to Bennington. 
The}' were married in May, 1733. 

Peter Harwood, her oldest son, at the time of the 
removal to Bennington was about twentj'^-six j-ears of 
age, and came with his wife Margaret (Clark). She 



214 MEMOItlALS OF A CENTURY. 

was bora Jul}^ 8, 1740, in Coleraine, Mass. (daughter 
of Matthew Clark, of Scotch origin). They were married 
June 9, 1759 ; settled in Amherst, and removed thence to 
Bennington, with one child named Clark. 

This Peter Harwood set out the first apple-tree in this 
town, and it is still living and bears fruit. Theirs was the 
first son born in this town. Their mother, Mrs. Bridget 
Harwood, was the first person among the settlers who died 
here, November 8, 1762 ; Mrs. Margaret Harwood was the 
first hopeful convert added on profession of her faith to this 
church ; and the house upon the old homestead, now occu- 
pied b}^ a descendant, — H. Hopkins Harwood, now junior 
deacon of the church, — has been pronounced "to retain 
more of the shape and appearance of the first frame houses 
built in Bennington, than any other dwelling-hOuse now 
standing." ^ 

Sarah Harwood, daughter of Peter and Margaret Har- 
wood, married Samuel Robinson, son of Col. Samuel Rob- 
inson, Jr., and Esther, daughter of Deacon Joseph Safibrd. 
She was the mother of Uel M. Robinson, Esq. She com- 
piled the Genealogical History of the Families of Robin- 
sons, Saffords, Harwoods, and Clarks, — a work of immense 
labor, and great accuracy, and very valuable. It has been 
constantly consulted in the preparation of portions of this 
A'Olume. She was born October 3, 1775; married Ma}^ 5, 
1796; united with this church in July, 1803, and died 
September 10, 1854. 

Eleazer Harwood, second son of Mrs. Bridget Har- 
wood, and who came with his mother, was nearly twent}'^- 
four 3'ears of age, and accompanied by his wife, Elizabeth 
Montague, to whom he was just married. May 19, 1761. 

1 Samuel Fay, Esq. 



ZECHARIAH HARWOOD. 215 

She was daugliter of Samuel Montague, believed to be one 
of the immigrants hither from Sunderland, Mass. ; modera- 
tor of the first town-meeting in this town, and cousin to John 
Montague, deacon and clerk, and his son, also deacon of 
the old First Church in Sunderland. 

Eleazer Harwood and Joseph Safford were elected 
deacons, at the first election of deacons in this church, 
according to the records. He became a preacher of the gos- 
pel, and resigned the office of deacon in this church to re- 
move to Pittsford, in this State, where he became pastor of 
the church, and was blessed wath extensive and powerful 
revivals. 1 One in particular is mentioned, — that of 1803. 
He died in 1807, " much beloved by all that knew him."^ 
A grandson of. his, by the name of Kellogg, is a minister 
of the gospel. Mrs. Eleazer Harwood's mother accompa- 
nied them to Pittsford, and died there in January, 1816, aged 
ninety-five years and three months. 

Zechariah Harwood was unmarried when he came with 
his mother to this town. He was at that time nineteen 
years of age. He married Lovina Rice, daugliter of Oliver 
Mice, of Hardwick, and born in 1751. 

The names of Jedediah, Oliver, and Hannah Rice are on 
the old covenant, also on the roll of this church at its or- 
ganization. The name of Oliver Rice is on the list given 
in Paige's Hardwick Centennial Address of those who from 
Hardwick served in the French war, commencing in 1756. 

Mr. Harwood settled near the north border of the town 
on the road now the main road to Shaftsbury. In early 
times vaccination had not yet been introduced into the 
town, and on occasion of the prevalency of small-pox, the 
town gave permission for innoculation with the small-pox, 

1 See Vermont Evang. Mag. of that day. — P. H. White. 

2 Vermont Chronicle. 



216 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

and appointed pest-houses, to which patients with this dis- 
ease should be restricted. In 1800, such a house was es- 
tablished in the north-east part of the town, under the 
charge of Mr. Harwood, who, though not a regular physi- 
cian, was believed to have peculiar skill in the management 
of the disease. 

A Benjamin Harwood is recorded as a member of this 
church in 1762. If this is correct, it must have been the 
sou of Mrs, Bridget Harwood, of that name. 

Benjamin Harwood, son of Peter Harwood, mentioned 
in another place as the first male child born in Bennington, 
united with the church late in life, January 3, 1836. A 
diary which he kept has been preserved, dating back to 
1806, and continued for some four years, from which ex- 
tracts have been introduced into these pages. His son, 
Hiram Harwood, continued this diary down to 1836. It is 
comprised in some dozen volumes, most of them quite 
large, ver}^ legibly and neatly written, — a minute record of 
every day of life for thirty 3'ears. 

The Zechariah Harwood above mentioned Avas a member 
of this church at its organization, and became a Univer- 
salist, said to be of the Winchester tj^pe. 

This Mr. Winchester had been a preacher of Calvinistic 
doctrines, and became an advocate of universal restoration, 
preaching in Philadelphia, and afterward in various parts 
of America and England ; and died in Hartford, Conn., 
in 1797. He published several works. ^ He came to Ben- 
nington and preached. Individuals of prominence went to 
hear him. It is said that Judge Jonathan Robinson went 
to hear him, but would not let his children go, and did not 
say at home what was his opinion of the preacher's senti- 
ments. 

1 Encyclopedia of Keligious Knowledge — Art. Winchester. 



HEV. MR. inNCHESTER. 217 

General Ebeuezer Walbridge, an early settler in Ben- 
nington from Norwich, Conn., and highly distinguished in 
the civil and military annals of this town, and previously 
a member of the church, adopted Winchester sentiments. ^ 

This case of Zechariah Harwood is introduced to bring to 
notice the fact that his third son, Perez, who had adopted 
his father's Winchester sentiments, became, after having 
arrived at adult age, and having reared a large family of 
children, converted to the faith of his ancestors. He em- 
braced the doctrines of this church and united with it, 
January 5, 1834. Four of his children and a daughter-in- 
law had previousl)', at one time, united with the church, 
September 4, 1817. 

All his children, and very nearly all his grandchildren, 
resident in this town, have become members of the church. 
One of them, James H. Harwood, is a minister of the gos- 
pel. Thus the stream of descendants, turned aside tem- 
porarily from the faith of the ancestors, turned back again 
in solid body to that faith. 

1 A communication in the " Vermont Gazette," of May 3, 18G3, evidently from 
the pen of an admirer of Mr. Winchester, sliows him to liave had an insinuating 
and popuhvr address. " The sentiments of the late pious Jlr. Winchester, in 
coincidence with the above liberal mode, were once delivered in an agreeable 
manner in this town," etc. On his last visit to Bennington, " he happened to ar, 
rive within a few miles on Saturday evening; laboring under some disease, but 
anxious to hear the reverend and pious Mr. Job Swift on the Sabbath ensuing 
he rode several miles, across an exceedingly bad road." W'hen arrived and in 
the service, he gave exceedingly fixed attention to Mr. Swift's sermon; at noon 
he " walked with some difficulty to the house where the church generally con- 
vened, to pass that period in suitable exercises and prayer" (doubtless at 
"Grandmother Robinson's "). Here he was recognized by " a leading church- 
member " " who had formerly had a slight acquaintance with him in Philadel- 
phia; " and a dialogue ensued, of which, as described, the following is a part. 
"Mr. Swift said," . . . — stating some doctrinal observation, — " and I 
conceive you could not fully coincide with him in those sentiments." — " Truly," 
resumed the worthy man . . . , " while plenty abounded and no one felt 
a lack, what need had I to repine at your helping yourself to a slice that would 
not have been so savory to my taste, and while all have abundance, let each re. 
gard his fellow with complacency." .... 
19 



218 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

The remaining son of Mrs. Bridget Harwood, who came 
with her in the first company of settlers, Steplien, was at 
that time ten years of age. 

The Harwoods, according to tradition, were, — as were 
so many others of the early settlers of this town, — Sepa- 
rates. The descendants of this family are very numerous ; 
indeed, the most so of the three families (Robinsons, 
Saffords, and Ilarwoods), all so numerously represented iu 
Mrs. Robinson's genealogical record. At present there are 
more members in the Bennington First Church of the name 
of Harwood than of any other. 

A few extracts from the diary of Benjamin Harwood may 
interest the reader, as near-at-hand glimpses of a worthy 
man, such as cannot now otherwise be obtained : — 

His honor. — "March 13, 1807. — Nathan Robinson received of 
me this day ten bushels of wheat at 7s. per bushel. Nothing 
but honor made me part with the wheat at the above price, for I 
can get 8s. 7d. at Troy for it. Mr. Robinson bargained for the 
wheat last fall when it went at the price which he now gives." 

An eye for beauty. — " June 15, 1808. — Nothing about us seems 
more pleasant at this time than a view of Mt. Anthony, every tree 
from its base to its summit being completely covered with green 
leaves." 

His hospitality. — " Jan. 30, 1809. — Uncle Zechariah, his son Abel, 
and son-in-law Hugh, and their wives, and Ruth Harwood, came 
and made us a visit. Next arrived Mr. Moses Donaldson on his 
way home to Coleraine ; after him Mr. Stearns, wife, and daughter; 
and the last to come was our good friend, Mr. Case, of Hoosick, 
bringing with him brother and sister Stone, and their youngest 
daughter. Beside those I have mentioned, a considerable collec- 
tion of the young people of the neighborhood spent the evening 
here. Except Uncle Zechariah and his people, who returned in the 
evening, those whose names I have mentioned tarried here all 
night." 

Entries like the last of the above fi-equentl}^ recur in the 
diary. 



THE HAE WOODS. 219 

Old folks' movnng match. — " May 31, 1808. — Late in the after- 
noon Governor Kobinson and his lady came here on a visit. The 
old gentlemen felt pretty smart, talked upon religion, and read the 
Bible most of the time while he was here. I am requested to men- 
tion one circumstance which occurred this afternoon, though not 
of more importauce than many others mentioned in this journal. 
My father commonly mows his door-yard about this time. It hap- 
pened that he wanted to mow it to-day. So himself, Governor 
Robinson, and Mr. Warner, each took a turn at mowing, to see 
which one could cut his grass the most handsomely. The matter 
being left to themselves, each decided in his own fovor. My father 
will be seventy-three years of age in July next, Govei'uor Eobin- 
son is about sixty-nine, and Mr. Warner sixty-seven." 

Of the above-named Perez Harwood, it may be said that, 
a son, Henry, two daughters, Lucinda and Ruhama, a 
brother, Hiram, and a brother's wife, S3'lvia, and a second 
cousin, Hiram, 2d, united with the church Sept. 4, 1817. 
He himself, as above, Jan. 5, 1834. He died at the ad- 
A'anced age of eighty-nine, Dec. 9, 1859, — social and agree- 
able in couA^ersation, firm in the faith of Jesus, and with a 
victorious hope. A grandson, Isaac Harwood^ became deeply 
interested (1854) in an incipient missionary Sabbath-school 
movement in the north-east part of the town ; dying two 
3'ears afterward, absorbed with prayer and desire for this 
school. His father, Henry, succeeded him, and has been 
succeeded by others in charge of the school. In the third 
and fourtli years of its history it was blessed with a power- 
ful revival of religion in the neighborhood, and many con- 
verts, among them the Rev. Simeon Knapp, a devoted and 
successful minister of the Baptist denomination, who has 
since died. 

Of the above-named Benjamin Harwood, his wife was 
Diadama Deioey. They were married April 18, 1786. She 
was born Jan. 5, 1766, Stockbridge, Mass., daughter of Ab- 
ner Dewey, born in Westfield, Mass., and married, 1776, in 



220 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

Bennington. She united with the church Sept. 22, 1825, 
and deceased June 22, 1854, aged eighty-eight ; clear-minded 
and bright-eyed to the last, and with vivid recollection of 
events occurring long since in the histor}' of the town. A 
daughter and namesake, Mrs. Hiram Waters, united with 
the church Jan. 3, 1836, died Sept. 19, 1864 ; of superior 
loveliness, consistency, and excellence in all the relations 
of life. 

George P. Harwood, son of Jonas, and grandson of Pe- 
ter and Margaret Harwood, united with the church Jan. 3, 
1836, died May 14, 1868 ; was one of the trustees of the 
First Church. 

II. Samuel and Timothy Pratt, with their wives, 
Baty and Elizabeth, came with the very first immigration. 
The names of all but Timothy are on the roll of the church 
at its organization ; Timothy Pratt is on the records as 
uniting with the church, with others, Jan. 3, 1765 ; also, 
"Esther, wife" — it is to be inferred second wife — "of 
Samuel Pratt." 

The names of Sauxuel Pratt and Timothy Pratt are on 
the " muster roll ^ of the first company of militia in the 
town of Bennington, organized Oct. 24, 1764," of which 
John Fassett was captain. Their names are also among 
those of officers appointed at the first town meeting held 
March 31, 1762, at the house of John Fassett. 

The names John Pratt and Silas Pratt are on a "list of 
the persons settled in Bennington prior to June 1, 1765, 
prepared from recollection, b}^ Samuel Robinson, Esq., in 
New York city, in December of that year, and furnished 
the governor of that province." ^ 

1 Found among the papers of Capt. Elijah Dewey by his grandson, E. D. Hub- 
bell, Esq. 

2 Vermout Hist- Mag., p. 144. 



COL. SAMUEL ROBINSON. 221 

The first settlers of this name came from Amherst, Mass., 
and settled in the easterly portion of the town. Among 
their descendants Stephen Pratt resided in what has since 
been raised and is now the Stark House. E. S. Pratt, 
residing where was the house of Roger Booth, is a descend 
ant. 

Elisha Billings Pratt, who married Clara, daughter of 
Samuel and Aurelia (Mather) Safford, was son of Stephen 
Pratt. 

III. Leonard Robinson was the oldest child of Sam- 
uel Robinson, Sen. He came here, with his famil}^, in 
the first company of settlers. He was born in Hard- 
wick, Mass., July 27, 1736. He married his first wife, 
Rebecca Billings, in Hardwick, and his first two children 
were born there. She united with this church April 14, 
1765. He united with the church December 20, 1764. His 
frequently leading the Friday prayer-meeting, and "lining 
out the psalm " Avith a peculiar tone, has been spoken of as 
familiar to the old inhabitants. He was first sergeant in 
Capt. John Fassett's military company. He was forty-one 
years of age at the time of the Bennington battle, and in 
Capt. Samuel Robinson's compan3\ From the Bennington 
battle anecdote related of him, among the incidents of that 
battle, in a previous part of this volume, his piety would 
seem to have been of that kind that " trusts God, hut keeps 
the powder dry." 

Late in life he removed to Swanton, and died September 
29, 1827. He had sixteen children. 

IV. Colonel Samuel Robinson was second child of 
Samuel Robinson, Sen. ; " was born at Hardwick, Mass., 
August 15, 1738 ; was one of the first company of settlers 

19* 



222 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

who came to Bennington in 1761 ; married Hannah Clark, 
in Harclwick, Mass. ; and, for his second wife, in Benning- 
ton, Esther, daughter of Deacon Joseph Safford, and died 
in Bennington, May 3, 1813. 

He was an active man in the New York controversy, 
and in the other early affairs of the town; in 1768 was 
chosen town committee, in place of his father, deceased ; 
commanded one of the Bennington companies of militia in 
Bennington battle ; performed other important military 
services during the war, and rose to the rank of colonel. 
In 1777 and 1778, he had charge, as "overseer," of the 
tory prisoners; and, in 1779 and 1780 represented the 
town in the General Assembly, and was for three years a 
member of the Board of War. He was the first justice of the 
peace appointed in town, under the authority of Vermont, 
in 1778, and was also, during the same year, one of the 
judges of the Special Court for the south shire of the 
county, and, in that capacit^^, sat on the trial and convic- 
tion of Redding. 

Col. Robinson was a man of good natural abilities, and 
of much activity and enterprise in early life ; upright and 
honorable in i;ll his dealings, possessing undoubted per- 
sonal courage, and beloved by all for the kindness, gener- 
osit}^, and nobleness of his nature and conduct.^ 

" He was one of the eight persons who, in 1781, certified, 
in writing, their approval of the efforts of Ira Allen to 
prevent the invasion of the State by finessing with Gen. 
Haldimand. His patriotism was never doubted." ^ 

He left numerous worthy and respectable descendants, 
some of whom reside in this town, and others in different 
parts of this State and the United States. 

Dk. Benjamin Robinson, son of Col. Samuel Robinson, 

1 Vermont Hist. Mag., p. 168. 2 Early Hist. Vermont, p. 408. 



DR. BENJAMIN ROBINSON. 223 

became a physician, and settled in Fayetteville, N. C. ; 
obtained a wide and eminent practice in his profession, 
and was liighly respected as a citizen. He was born in 
Bennington, February 11, 1776, and died in his adopted 
place of residence, in 1857. 

In the "Vermont Historical Magazine" is the following 
interesting account of the introduction of vaccination into 
Bennington : " Dr. Benjamin Robinson, a young phj-si- 
cian, son of Col. Samuel Robinson, advertised, in the ' Ver- 
mont Gazette,' under date of December 17, 1800, that he 
was ' inoculating for the A;me, or, as it is commonly 
called, the cotc-jjox;' and stating ' that he has the best Eu- 
ropean authority for warranting him in publicly declaring, 
that when a person has once had the kine-pox, he is forever 
infallibly secure against catching the small-pox by any pos- 
sible exposure.' And he stated, in some detail, the evi- 
dence on which his declaration was founded. In a publica- 
tion in the ' Gazette,' of the 2d of Februar}' following, Dr. 
Robinson, among other proofs of the efficacy of the kine- 
pox, states that he had inoculated Russell. Haswell, He- 
man Robinson, and Samuel Follett, lads from thirteen to 
seventeen years of age, with the kine-pox ; that after 
having it, they had entered the pest-house and been inocu- 
lated, by Mr. Harwood, with the small-pox, and ' were ex- 
posed to the contagion of ten or twelve persons in the vari- 
ous stages of the disease,' and that not one of them was in 
the least degree affected with the pest-house disease." 




CHAPTER XV. 

PERSONAL NOTICES. 

Second Immigration. 

^jEACON John Fassett was born April 1, 1720. He 
was one of the second company of 'settlers in Ben- 
nington, in 1761. At his house the first town meet- 
ing was held in March, 1762. He resided about 
half a mile south of the meeting-house, near what 
has been lately known as the Doctor Swift place. 
He kept a tavern, and the town meetings were at the 
house of "John Fassett, inn-holder," until 1767, when they 
were at the meeting-house. In October, 1764, Mr. Fassett 
was chosen captain of the first military compan}"^ formed in 
the town (b}' which title he was afterward distinguished). 
He was one of the two representatives of the town in the 
first State Legislature. He died at Bennington, August 
12, 1794, in the seventj'^-fifth year of his age.^ 

His name is upon " the old clmi'ch covenant," and he 
was one of the members of the Bennington church at its 
organization, and the first clerk of the church. He took a 
leading part in its affairs. His name constantly occurs 
upon committees on business, in the church, from its com- 
mencement, and through the pastorates of the Rev. Messrs. 
Dewey and Aver3\ 

He was leader of the choir, and, with very few excep- 
tions, the leaders of the choir, through the first century, 

1 Vermont Hist. Mag. 



COL. BENJAMIN FASSETT. 225 

have been from among his descendants.^ He removed 
hither from Hardwiek, Mass., and he was a stanch 
Separate, in principle and feeling, through life. A com- 
mon saying, which has been handed down, illustrates his 
punctuality and strictness in religious duties : " It is as 
true as that John Fassett will be at prayer-meeting at such 
an hour." 

His children were Sarah (wife of Dr. Jonas Fay), John, 
Jonathan, David, Nathan, Amos, Mary, Benjamin, and 
Hannah. 

John Fassett, Jr., united with this church under Mr. 
Dewey, August 29, 1765. He was one of the two repre- 
sentatives from Arlington in 1778, and was elected one 
of the Council in 1779, which office he held, with the ex- 
ception of the years 1785 and 1786, until 1795 ; and he was 
also a judge of the Supreme Court for eight years, 1778- 
1786.2 

Col. Benjamin Fassett united with the church in the 
"Wood and Burton revival, Nov., 1784. He was for some 
years leader of the choir. He came to Bennington with 
his father in 1761. He was a commissary in the war of 
the Eevolution ; and served in other capacities in civil and 
military life, was an active business man, and died in Ben- 
nington years since, leaving numerous descendants.^ 

He married Betty, daughter of Capt. Elijah Dewey. She 
united with the church at the same time with her husband. 
The}' had three daughters, all of whom became members 

1 The following are the names of the leaders of the choir for the first century 
of the church's history. Those in italics are descendants of Deacon John Fas- 
sett: Deacon John Fassett, Judge Jonathan Kobinson, CoZ. iJcvyawiira J^asse<<, 
Col. Jonathan E. Itobin.ton, Nathaniel Dexter, Gen. Henry Itobinson, Deacon 
Stephen Bingham, William Bates, Deacon John F, Robinson, Hon. S. H. Brown, 
J. Seymour Merrill, John Fay. 

2,3 Vermont Hist. Mag. 



226 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

of the church ; Betsey (the second Mrs. Uriah Edgerton) 
and Sarah, in 1803 ; and Ruth (Mrs. Samuel Fay) 
Nov. 10, 1822. 

Col. Fassett married his second wife, Mrs. Hetty Alvah, 
who also united with the church in 1803. Benjamin 
Schenck Fassett, Adeline, first wife of Edward H. Swift, 
and Mary, wife of the Rev. Gordon Hayes, were the off- 
spring of this marriage. A daughter of Mr. and Mrs. 
Haj^es, Lydia, became the wife of a missionary, and resides 
in India. The last-named three children of Col. Fassett 
also became members of the church. 

Deacon Fassett's daughter, Mary (Mrs. Judge Jonathan 
Robinson), and his son Jonathan, became members of this 
church, under Mr. Dewey — the former, Jan. 3, 1765; the 
latter, May 16, 1765, — and a daughter, Hannah, in the 
Wood and Burton revival. 

Of the above, John Fassett, Jr., " was one of the nine or 
ten persons who were first concerned in endeavoring to 
prevent Gen, Haldimand from invading the State." ^ He 
was father of Col. Elias Fassett, of the thirtieth United States 
infantry, in the war of 1812. The following allusion to Col. 
Fassett is taken from Hiram Harwood's Diary of 1812 : — 

" Monday, June 7, 1813. — Many of us went down to where Col. 
Fassett's regiment took its departure for Burlington, which they 
did in a brilliant manner." ^ 

1 See Biographical Sketches in Hall's Early Vermont, p. 463. 

2 " Soon after the admission of Vermont, as a member of the Federal Union, 
this town became and long continued to be a recruiting station for the army. In 
the spring and summer of 1792, Gen. William Easton, afterward distinguished 
in the war with Tripoli, then a captain, recruited a company here, and at its 
head marched to Pittsburg and joined the army under General Wayne, tlien pre- 
paring for his campaign against the Indians. Men were also enlisted here for 
the army and marine service during the administration of the elder Adams, on 
the apprehended war with France. It was also a recruiting station during the 
war of 1812, and in 1813 the thirtieth regiment of U. S. infantry, under Col. Elias 
Fassett, was mustered and drilled here, preparatory to joining the army for act- 
ual service." — Vermont Hist. Mag., p. 130. 



DEACON JOSEPH SAFFORD. 227 

Col. Benjamin Fassett bought extensively upon the east- 
ern border of the town and resided there, afterward building 
and occupying the Dr. Morgan house, opposite the court 
house. 

Ruth Fassett (Mrs. Samuel Fay) was the mother of 
Samuel, Benjamin, and John Fay — a devoted mother, kind 
neighbor, full of hospitality, and much attached to her rel- 
atives and friends ; died Aug. 14, 1862, aged eighty. 

II. Deacon Joseph S afford was also one of the second 
company of settlers in Bennington, 1761. At the meeting 
in which the church was organized, and immediately after 
that business was disposed of, it was voted : — 

" To receive in Joseph Safford and Anne SaflFord, his wife, into 
full communion with this church." 

He, with Eleazer Harwood, was elected to the office of 
deacon, at the first election of this kind in the church on 
record. 

His wife was Ann Bottom, of Norwich, Conn., born in 
1710. He was born in 1705, at Ipswich, Mass. At the 
first town meeting he was appointed town treasurer, and 
one of the tithing men. At a proprietor's meeting, March 31, 
1862, it was voted : — 

"To give Esquire Samuel Robinson and Deacon Joseph Safford 
five acres of land, with the privilege within the said five acres to 
build a corn-mill on, and forty dollars in case it be built by August 
next." "Also, voted to give forty dollars to any one on the east 
side of the town who should build a saw-mill by the first day of 
September next." 

These men had the saw-mill done by the 16th of June; 
and the time was, at proprietor's meeting, extended one 
month, in which they might finish the corn-mill and get the 
premium of forty dollars. 



228 MEMORIALS OF A CENTUJtY. 

Deacon Safford brought with him to this town the records 
of the Newint (Conn.) Separate Church. These are still 
preserved by his descendants ; and also a manuscript letter 
from the old church in Newint, signed by Daniel Kirkland, 
its pastor, to Joseph Safford and others, Separates, with a 
view to some further conference on the matters of differ- 
ence between the separating brethren and the old church. 
These records are interesting, as containing the record ^f 
Joseph Safford's formal election and installation to the office 
of deacon in the Separate church ; also their confession of 
faith, and covenant, with the signatures ; also an impor- 
tant case of discipline, spread out at length, showing their 
strictness and success in maintaining discipline in the church. 

His daughter Esther was second wife of Col. Samuel 
Robinson and mother of ten of his children ; Hannah 
(Mrs. Follett), Esther (Mrs. Hj'de), Samuel, Benjamin, 
Polly, Betsy (Mrs. Sears, mother of Hon. Benjamin R. 
Sears), Safford, Hiram, Lucy (Mrs. Montague), ^ Sarah (Mrs. 
Haswell). His daughter, Abigail, married Jonathan Scott, 
one of the early settlers here from Sunderland, Mass. His 
son. Col. Joseph Safford, married Marcy, daughter of Samuel 
Robinson, Sen. ; Anna, his first child, married Henry Wal- 
bridge ; Cornelius Cady, born in Norwich, Conn., married his 
daughter Elizabeth ; David married Anna Brewster ; his 
daughter Lucy married Samuel Montague (the Sunder- 
land family), and was mother of Elizabeth, wife of Deacon 
afterward the Rev. Eleazer Harw,ood, of Fittsford ; Jacob 
married Persis Robinson, daughter of Col. Samuel Robin- 
son, by his first wife, Hannah Clark, of Hardwick ; his 
daughter Harriet married John Fassett, Jr. 

Gen. Samuel Safford was the eldest son of Deacon 

1 Died Dec, 1808, as. 79. — It was truly said of her, at lier deatli, "All who 
know her must feel that they have lost a friend." 



GEN. SAMUEL SAFFORD. 229 

Joseph Safford. " He was born at Norwich, Conn., April 
14, 1737, and was one of the earl}' settlers of Bennington. 
He took an active part in the land-title controversy with 
New York ; and on several occasions represented the town 
in conventions of the settlers for defence against the York- 
ers ; and also for forming the territory into a separate 
State. 

When the committees of the several towns met at Dorset, 
in Jul}', 1775, to nominate officers for the batallion of 
Green Mountain Boys, recommended by Congress, he was 
nominated for major, under Warner as lieutenant-colonel, 
and served as such in the battles of Hubbardton and Ben- 
nington and throughout the war. Before the close of the 
war he became a general of the militia. He was a repre- 
sentative of the town in 1781 and 1782, and, in 1783, was 
elected a State councillor, and served as such for nineteen 
years in succession. For twenty-six successive ^'■ears, end- 
ing in 1807, he was chief judge of the Count}^ Court for 
Bennington Couut3^ He was an upright and intelligent 
man, of sound judgment and universally respected. He 
died at Bennington, March 3, 1813." i 

" He was concerned with Chittenden and others in the 
Canada negotiations, and his patriotism was never ques- 
tioned." 2 

He united with the church in the revival under the Messrs. 
Wood and Burton, 1784 ; and his wife. Mar}'- Lawrence, 
some two j^ears afterward, at the commencement here of 
the ministr}^ of Mr. Swift. He was elected deacon in 1789, 
and continued in the office until his death in 1813. 

He was distinguished for exact truthfulness and for strict 
observance of the Sabbath. Saturday evening was required 
to be kept, under his roof, as strictly as Sunday. Secular 

1 Vermout Hist. Mag., p. 175. 

2 Eaily Hist. Vermont, p. 408; see, also, ibid., pp. 212, 221, 201, 325, 363. 

20 



230 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

preparations for the Sabbath were required by him to be 
made before sundown of the day before. 

His wife, Mary Lawrence, was the daughter of Jonathan 
Lawrence, who removed with his famil}^ to Bennington, 
1772. She was born in Norwich, Conn., April 8, 1741. 

Their chikh-en were Samuel (born in Norwich, Conn., 
June, 24, 1761 ; married Aurelia Mather, in Bennington, 
May 8, 1786, deceased in 1851 ; he was the father of Mrs. 
Cogswell Morgan), Mary, John, Ruth, Anna, Clara, 
Electa (Mrs. Webb), Amelia, and Jonas. He resided in 
the house, now the residence of Cogswell Morgan, — Mrs. 
Morgan being his grand-daughter. 

A son of Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin "VYebb, William Webb, 
is, or was, until his removal to Washington, a deacon in 
the Second Congregational Church. Mary, daughter of 
Gen. Safford, married" Nathan Fa}^ son of John Fa}", who 
was killed iu the Bennington battle. 

III. Deacon Erwin Safford, was elected deacon May 
10, 1822, and removed to Philadelphia in 1830. He was a 
descendant of John, brother of Deacon Joseph Safford. 

IV. Elisha Field was one of the members of the 
church at its organization. He was ensign in the military 
company organized in 1764, with John Fassett as captain. 
He and Deacon Safford were the tithing men, among other 
town officers, appointed in the first town meeting, March 
81, 1762. He came into town with the second company of 
settlers in 1761. 

He was a member of the Separate church which removed 
from Sunderland. There are seven persons of the name 
on the roll of this cliurcli. Four of tiieui united in the 
revival in 1803. Jesse and Mrs. Nancy Field united with 
the church in 1784, in the revival under Messrs. Wood, 



LIEUT. BREAKENRIDGE. 231 

and Burton. He was one of the building committee of 
the new meeting-house. He was a carpenter. 

He was in the battle of Bennington, and some extracts 
from his manuscript communication have been given, in the 
account of the battle, in this volume. 

V. Lieut. James Breakenridge was one of the second 
company of settlers (fall of 1761), and his name, and 
that of William, his son, are on the old covenant, and on 
the roll of members at the organization of the church. 

He was a large landholder. His name became famous 
in connection with the important fact that a successful 
stand was made by the settlers of Bennington, on his farm 
and at his residence, against the first and onl}'' overt at- 
tempt of the New York claimants to dispossess, by the 
sheriff and his posse, the settlers in this town from their 
New Hampshire grants. 

Mr. Breakenridge was a man of quiet and peaceable dis- 
position and habits, though his property, being covered 
by the old patents of Walloomsac, necessarily placed him 
in a belligerent attitude toward the New York claimants. 
Although indicted as a rioter, and outlawed with Allen, 
Warner, and others, by the New York government, he does 
not appear to have ever taken any part in the active pro- 
ceedings. 

He was sent to England, by a convention of the settlers, 
with Jehiel Hawle}', of Arlington, as his associate, in 
1772, to ask relief from the crown against the New York 
claimants and government ; but the ministry were too 
much absorbed with their project of taxing America to 
give their attention to the matter. Mr. Breakenridge was 
chosen lieutenant of the first military company formed in 
Bennington, in 1764, and is, therefore, frequently desig- 
nated in the records of the town, by that title. ^ 

1 Vermont Hist. Mag. 



232 MEMOIilALS OF A CENTURY. 

The father of Lieutenant James, whose name also was 
James, was a native of Scotland, and removed thence to 
Ireland ; and removed from Ireland to this country in 
1727, and settled in Ware, Mass., whence Lieut. James 
Breakenridge removed to Bennington. There was a brother 
of Lieut. James, named William, who was a greatly re- 
spected, and very influential citizen, in Ware, for many 
years.i 

Daniel Breakenridge, son of Lieut. James Breaken- 
ridge, of commanding form, and great determination and 
decision of character, nnited with this church in 1803. 
Esther Breakenridge united with the church April 8, 1765, 
Hannah, Jan., 1803. A daughter of Lieut. James married 
Thomas Henderson. A daughter of this marriage, Phebe 
Henderson, married Harry Smith, Esq. Two of the chil- 
dren of this marriage became ministers of the gospel. 
Mrs. Phebe (Henderson) Smith married a second husband, 
the Rev. Joel Lindsley, D.D. A son of this marriage be- 
came a minister of the gospel. 

The Breakenridge place is in the possession and occu- 
pancy of John Younglove Breakenridge, son of Daniel. 

Mrs. Azubah Breakenridge, wife of Daniel, — previ- 
ously Mrs. Paine, mother of Cornelia, Mrs. Tubbs ; then 
Mrs. Haynes, mother of Harriet and Martha Haynes, the 
first and second Mrs. Gen. Henrj^ Robinson, — deceased 
Sept. 23, 1857, at an advanced age. She united with this 
church May 6, 1821. In a few of the last j-ears of her life, 
by reason of the infirmities of age, not able to leaA'C her 
house, but still with a refined and earnest welcome, received 
her kindred and friends and her minister to the enjoyment 
of her cheerful hospitality. 

1 Ware Historical AdclresR, by AVilliam Hyde. 



f 



DEACOX JOHN WOOD. 233 

VI. Ebenezer Wood came into town the first year of 
the settlement of the town, though not with the first com- 
pany. He was one of the committee, appointed in the first 
proprietors' meeting, to choose a place to set the meeting- 
house. He was third sergeant in Capt. John Fassett's 
company of militia. He united with the church Jan. 3, 
1765. 

Deacon Johx "Wood was one of the officers of Capt. 
Fassett's company. He was received into this church Dec. 
13, 1764. His name is also down on the old covenant. 
He was elected deacon Maj^ 22, 1789, at the same time 
with Gov. Moses Robinson, and Gen. Samuel Safford. 
He is represented as a severe, exact, and very determined 
man, and as very pious. He must have been considerably 
advanced in j'ears when elected deacon. His name ap- 
pears frequently upon committees, in the church records, 
at a very early day, — as far back as June 19, 1766. The 
wife of Deacon Wood, Hannah, united with the church 
June 20, 1765. John, a son of theirs, dedicated by them 
in baptism, Nov. 1, 1767, married Sarah, daughter of 
Joseph SaflTord, and grand-daughter of Deacon Joseph 
Safibrd. Joseph Safford married Marcy, daughter of 
Samuel Robinson, Sen. John Wood, Jr., removed to 
Malone, N. Y. Deacon Wood, probably then a very old 
man, removed to Malone, in 1810. He resided on the 
place where is now the residence of Elijah Fillmore. Ten 
individuals of the name of Wood are on the roll of the 
church ; none of that name are now connected with the 
church. 

YII. Governor 3Ioses Robinson. — The biographical 
sketch of Governor Moses Robinson, by-Governor Hall in 
the " Vermont Historical Magazine," could not be condensed 
21* 



234 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

with justice to itself and its subject, and it is too long for 
insertion here. The reader is referred to that article for 
important information of his public career ; and this notice 
would confine itself to particulars not therein contained, saA^e 
to say in brief, that he was chosen town clerk at the first 
meeting of the town, and for nineteen j'ears ; colonel of the 
militia, and at the head of his regiment at Mount Inde- 
pendence on its evacuation by Gen. St. Clair ; member of 
the famous Council of Safety at the time of the battle of 
Bennington, and, during the campaign of that 3^ear ; chief 
justice in the Supreme Court on its first organization, and 
for ten years ; when he was elected to the office of governor 
of the State by the Legislature ; in 1782 one of the agents 
of Vermont in the Continental Congress ; and on the ad- 
mission of Vermont into the Union one of the senators in 
Congress. 

He was born in Hardwick, Mass., March 2G, 1741, and 
came with his father, Samuel Robinson, Sen., in the summer 
or fall of 1761, to Bennington. 

He was hopefull^^ converted at twenty-four years of age. 
It was in the summer time ; he was in the field at work 
when he received light. He Avas so overjoyed, he hastened 
across the field, forgetting his hat, to inform his pastor, Mr. 
Dewey, of the happy change his feelings had undergone. 
He was received into the church with six others, June 20, 
1765. He was proverbial for the fervency and unction of 
his prayers, when leading others at the throne of grace, and 
for always guiding, when it was possible, the conversation 
into the subject of religion. 

Judge Stephen Robinson used to sa}^ that when a lad at 
home in his father's house (the present residence of G. W. 
Robinson) he could hear the whole of Governor jNIoses 
Robinson's prayer at the meeting-house. It is related of 
him that being across the mountain, to attend to some busi- 



GOVERNOn MOSES ROBINSON. 235 

ness of settling an estate, and there being a prospect of 
some time elapsing before the preparations would be com- 
pleted for proceeding with the business, he proposed, and it 
was agreed to, that the interval should be devoted to a 
prayer-meeting. 

He is remembered as often repeating the expression, 
and with unction, " As for me and my house, we will 
serve the Lord." Persons still living remember him as 
leading the meeting in the absence of the minister, and 
"lining out" the psalm. 

At one prayer-meeting which appeared rather dull, the 
two other gentlemen who were deacons with himself were 
present, and he led the meeting. He called on one of 
them to lead in prayer, who, after several ineffectual 
attempts by " hemming " to clear his throat, wished to be 
excused. Governor Robinson then called on the other, who 
also desired to be excused ; thereupon the governor under- 
took the duty himself, and gave the following vent to his 
thoughts : " Lord ! thou knowest we have come up here 
this afternoon to worship Thee, and we are cold and luke- 
warm as it were, — / fear at least some of us are." The 
associate deacons knew well enough who were meant, but 
conceived no offence. 

Governor Robinson was possessed of great wealth. The 
town was noted in his da}' for tlie wealth of its inhabitants, 
and he was, perhaps, more distinguished than any other in 
this respect. It is affirmed that his liberality to the cause 
of religion here corresponded to his abilitj-. 

He was elected deacon Ma}' 22, 1789, and continued 
in tliut office until his death, INIay 26, 1813. In a letter, 
preserved by G. W. Robinson, of condolence, to Gen. David 
Robinson on the death of his second wife, a letter of that 
lady is referred to in which Mrs. Robinson " mentioned the' 
hni)py dejith ol' Governor Robinson, and observed that if 



236 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

she could feel as he did, it would be worth ten thousand 
worlds." 

He married Mary, daughter of Stephen Fay, who united 
with the church M-vlj 16, 1765, and after her death, Miss 
Susannah Howe, who united with the church May 5, 1811. 
By his first wife he had sis sons and one daughter. 

Capt. Moses Robinson, Jr., first child of Gov. Moses 
Robinson, was born in Bennington, Nov. 16, 1763. He was 
a member of the Council in 1814 ; and was several times, 
in 1820 and afterward, representative of the town in the 
General Assembly. 

He was appointed, Jan, 30, 1804, building agent in chief 
for the building of the new meeting-house. A building 
committee previously appointed was to draw plans and 
advise with Capt. Moses Robinson. He w£is to make con- 
tracts and draw on the treasurer. He married Ruth, 
daughter of Capt. Elijah Dewe}^, and grand-daughter of the 
Rev. Jedidiah Dewey. Two of his grand-children are minis- 
ters of the gospel, — Thomas Wright and Henry M. Swift. 

Major Aaron Robinson, the second son of Gov. Moses 
Robinson, was born May 4, 1767. He united with this 
church in the revival in 1803. He was town clerk seven 
years, in 1815 and afterward ; a justice of the peace twent^^- 
three years ; a Representative of the Assembly in 1816-17 ; 
and Judge of Probate in 1835-6 ; and died in 1850.^ He 
was clerk of the church from Jan. 24, 1820, until his 
decease. His faithful entries upon the church records, in 
a remarkably clear and regular hand, are models to those 
who have similar duties to perform. 

His first wife was Sarah, daughter of Mnjor Wait Hopkins 
(killed b}' the Indians in New York in the Revolutionar}^ 

1 Vermont Hist. Mag. 



GOV. JOHN S. nOBINSOX. 237 

"War 1), aucl Miudwell, dauglitcrof the Rev. Jedidiah Dewey. 
His second wife was Mary Lyman, daughter of David 
Lyman, of Connecticut, born May 3, 1778, died March 28, 
1852. She united with the church in 1811, and possessed 
devoted piety, constant and fervent in prayer. 

Major Aaron Robinson and his wife were warm friends of 
the Rev. Absalom Peters, D.D., while he was pastor of the 
church, and very aA'erse to his pastoral relation with this 
church being dissolved. Mrs. Robinson addressed to him, in 
a few stanzas of poetry, the expression of her appreciation of 
him as her minister, which testimonial was highly prized by 
Dr. Peters, but became mislaid, and cannot be found. 

Nathan Robinson, Esq., fourth son of Gov. Moses 
Robinson, was the father of Gov. John Staniford Robinson. 

Gov. John S. Robinson was born in Bennington, Nov. 
10, 1804 ; graduated at Williams College in 1824 ; admitted 
to the Bennington County Bar in 1827 ; was twice a repre- 
sentative of Bennington in the General Assembly ; twice a 
member of the State Senate ; in 1853, on the failure of an 
election by the people, was chosen governor by joint ballot 
of the two houses. 

He belonged to the Democratic partj^, and was frequently 
supported by his political friends for member of Congress, 
governor, and other important offices ; but his party being 
generally in the minority, he was unsuccessful except as 
before stated. He died in Charleston, S. C, April 24, 
1860, while attending the National Democratic Conven- 
tion, where he was chairman of the delegation from Ver- 
mont. 

The legal attainments and high order of talent of Gov. 
John S. Robinson placed him at an early day in the front 

1 Mrs. Robinson's Genealogical History. 



238 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

rank of his profession, whicli position he always maintained. 
Generous of heart, amiable in disposition, and with integ- 
rity undoubted, he, by his uniform coui-tesy and kindness, 
endeared himself to all with whom he had business or 
intercourse. His remains were brought for interment to 
his native town, where his funeral was attended by the 
members of the bar in a body, as mourners, and by a large 
concourse of acquaintances and friends, — an impressive 
funeral discourse being delivered by President Hopkins, 
with whom he had received his college education." i 

1 Vermont Hist. Mag. 




CHAPTER XVI. 

PERSONAL NOTICES. 

Second Immigration, continued. 

)ENERAL David Robinson was the eighth child 
of Samuel Robinson, Sen. He was born at Hard- 
wick, Mass., Nov. 22, 1754, and came to Ben- 
nington with his father in 1761, being then a lad 
of seven 3'ears. He was in the battle of Benning- 
ton as a private in the militia, and afterward rose, 
b}^ regular promotion, to the rank of major-general, which 
office he resigned about 1817. He was sherifl" of the county 
for twenty -two years, ending in 1811 ; when he was ap- 
pointed United States Marshal for the Vermont District, 
which office he held for eight yeai's until 1819.^ 

He possessed a powerful constitution and great courage. 
A desperate individual had committed crimes and escaped 
the law, and all were afraid of him. He had fled to a hay- 
loft, and General Robinson went in pursuit of him. The 
neighbors of the general warned him to be cautious in 
approaching a person so dangerous, and endeavored to dis- 
suade him from ascending to the man's retreat. Gen. Robin- 
son, however, paid no attention to these remonstrances, but 
immediately went up on the loft and arrested the criminal 
without harm. In the winter before the Bennington battle, 
the British had command of Lake Champlain by the de- 
struction of the American fleet under Arnold. They had a 

1 Vermont Hist. Mag. 



240 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

large force at St. John's. The Americans held onh^ Ticon- 
deroga ; all north of that point was under control of the 
enemy, and tidings came that a company of defenceless 
women and children were there. It was two hundred miles 
away, and the snow from two to four feet deep. David 
Robinson, a young man about twenty-two, holding himself 
as a minute-man, went to the rescue of those helpless and 
imperilled ones ; forming, with one Deming fi-om Arling- 
ton, and a few others, a small detachment for this object. 
They accomplished their magnanimous purpose, and con- 
veyed the women and children to a fort for safet}^ on the 
Connecticut River. On his return he had at length one 
companion, a broad-shouldered six-footer. Mr. Robinson 
proved the most enduring of the two, — his comrade tiring 
out some da}^ and a half before they reached home, so that 
Robinson carried, for the remainder of the waj', liis own 
gun and knapsack and his comrade's also. 

He was fond of warming his blood, of a frosty morning, 
on his wood-pile, without coat or hat, onl}- a good sharp axe 
in his hand. Mrs. Robinson would remonstrate : "You will 
surely catch your death b}' such exposure." His laconic 
reply would be : " Well, I can't catch it but once." 

"Prompt" was a favorite expression with him, and when 
he placed a boy in the saddle to do an errand, he was ac- 
customed to say to the lad, " Do 3'on go, and come." 

He was deeply interested in. everything that concerned 
the prosperit}^ of Bennington ; ever readj^ to bear his full 
share of the burden and expense of public worship, and of 
every public interest. The Rev. E. W. Hooker, D.D., his 
pastor, preached a discourse at his funeral, whicli was pub- 
lished. Some extracts are here quoted : — 

"The proci.se date of his connection with tlie eliurcii in tliis 
place is not to be ascertained, from their being in an imperfect 
state. He is supposed, however, to have made a profession of re- 



GEK. DAVID ROBINSON. 241 

ligion in his young manliood. ... In liis religious velatious 
and character, if General Robinson was -an Independent Congrega- 
tionalist, so was he also a man sound in the faith of the fathers of 
New England. . . . The infirmities of advancing age in a few 
of the last months and years of his life of course rendered it many 
times difficult to obtain a very definite knowledge of his religious 
frame of mind. For some time previous to this, however, he seemed 
gradually withdrawing his thoughts from things temporal ; dis- 
posed to converse seriously on his state and pi'ospects, and to re- 
alize himself his neai'ness to the scenes of eternity, and their deep 
and aftecting solemnity. In the intervals, upon his views and 
feelings in regard to eternal things, he spoke with a solemnity and 
tenderness indicating a deep sense of their superior importance, 
and such as should testify to the consciences of his fellow-men on 
their own concern in them", as also hastening forward to the 
judgment-seat of Christ. 

In illustration of his religious submission, Doctor Hooker 
related to the writer the following anecdote : — 

" By the death of his son, Heman, he was deeply af- 
flicted. Others were with him, and myself also, at the time, 
in the north front room. Heman was dying in the room 
above. Some time had elapsed, and we were expecting 
the event. His brother Stephen came down to the foot of 
the stairs and said, ' He is gone, sir ! ' General Robinson 
did not seem to hear distinctly the announcement, and I 
said to him, 'Your son has breathed his last.' Rising 
from his chair, ' Oh ! ' said he ; and, proceeding to ascend 
the stairs, he repeated the words, ' Be still, and know that 
I am God.' " 

In illustration of the great infirmity of his advancing 
years, to which allusion is made in the above extract from 
Dr. Hooker's discourse, let an anecdote be given, related to 
the writer by Miss Angeline Selden. She was in at the 
house of Hemy Kellogg, Esq., where Judge Noah Smith 
resided formerly, and General Robinson came in during his 
days of mental decline, as he was passing away. He in- 
21 



242 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

quired if Judge Smith was iu. Mr. Kellogg replied in the 
negative. He persisted iu inquiring for Judge Smith, and 
then added, " I will go to the court and meet Judge Fay 
and Judge Brush." Judge Smith had been dead some fortj^ 
years, and the other gentlemen, one of them longer, and 
the remaining one perhaps nearly as long. The old man 
was truly living in the past. 

He died Dec, 12, 1843, at the age of eighty-nine. 

By his wife, Sarah, daughter of Stephen Fay, Esq., he 
had three sons, who became heads of families. 

David Robinson, Esq., graduated at "Williams College in 
1797, and became a lawyer. His second wife, Mrs. Sarah 
Shewel, daughter of Jesse Dickerson, of Morristown, N. J., 
a lady of refinement and intelligence, united with this church 
Sept. 7, 1817. Before his decease he executed a deed, con- 
veying his residence to this church and society for a par- 
sonage. He died in March, 1858, aged eighty-one. 

Hon. Stephen Robinson was successively a member of 
the Assembly for several years, a judge of the Countj'' 
Court, and a member of the Council of Censors in 1834.^ 
He received hope in Christ, and gave satisfactory e%'idence 
of his conversion in his last sickness, — about a }■ ear before 
bis death. In his inquiring state of mind he took the Bible, 
and with Scott's and Clark's Commentaries studied it care- 
fully. He became convinced of the impropriety of general 
visiting on the Sabbath, and when old friends, accustomed 
to that way, called on Sunda}', he expressed his pleasure in 
seeing them, but that he preferred they should come on 
some other day. He was very positive in his opinions, and 
in his expression of them, but he was so candid and intelli- 
gent that he did not give offence. He married Sarah, 

1 Vermont Hist. Mag. 



FAMILY OF GEN. ROBINSON. 243 

daughter of Deacon Aarou Hubbell. She united witli this 
church IMay 4, 1817, and died August, 1844. 

Of seven children, the first-born died at six years of age. 
The others became members of this church. 

Edmund A. Eobinson became a prosperous and highly- 
respected merchant in Albany, where he deceased suddenly. 
For some of the recent j'ears before his death, having a 
summer residence here, and for a few years for both sum- 
mer and winter, he was ever a vahied friend of this so- 
ciety, aiding and encouraging us always in our work, — 
generous, intelligent, genial ; his sudden death affected this 
community with profound surprise and sorrow. 

EuTH Robinson married Professor W. H. Parker, of Mid- 
dlebury College, and deceased some years since. 

Dewey Hubbell Robinson became a physician, and was 
settled in the practice of his profession in Michigan, and 
died in early manhood. 

Anne Caldwell Robinson deceased Dec. 5, 1868. She 
was distinguished for her zeal, labor, and success as a 
teacher in the Sabbath school, and particularly of an adult 
ladies' Bible class. She possessed a rare intellect, and 
great firmness in adhering to right and truth as she viewed 
them. 

Mrs. Stephen Robinson, Jr., deceased, daughter of Jo- 
seph Hinsdill, deserves note for the amiableness of her 
disposition, and the loveliness and consistenc}^ of her Chris- 
tian character. 

Hejian Robinson was the j'oungest son of Gen. David 
Robinson. His death has been already noticed. It took 
place when he Avas fifty years of age. He married Betsey, 
daughter of Joseph "Wadsworth, and had twelve children ; 
one of them, the oldest son. Judge Albert D. Robinson, 
another, George W. Robinson, who owns and occupies the 



244 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

residence and farm formerly the possession of General 
David Robinson. There the first Mrs. Samuel Robinson, 
as a widow, lived and died with her son David. The 
family have an excellent portrait of General Robinson. 
Gen. Robinson's third wife, Nancy, daughter of James 
Caldwell, and widow of George Church, Hartford, Conn., 
is upon the church record, as uniting with this church 
October 18, 1816. 

II; Judge Jonathan Robinson, the youngest son of 
Samuel Robinson, Sen., was born at Hardwick, Mass., Au- 
gust 11,1756, and came to Bennington as one of his father's 
family. He was a lawyer, and was early in public life. 
He was town clerk six years ; represented the town 
thirteen j'ears ; was chief judge of the Supreme Court 
from 1801 to 1807. He was then chosen senator to Con- 
gress, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of 
Israel Smith, elected governor of the State ; and was also 
senator for the succeeding term of six years, which 
expired March 3, 1815. In October, 1815, he became 
judge of probate and held the office for four years, and in 
1818 again represented the town in the General Assembly. 
He was a man of pleasant and insinuating address, and, by 
his talent and political shrewdness, occupied a leading 
position in the Republican party of the State for many 
years.i 

He was averse to making aristocratic pretensions among 
his towns-people. In illustration of this, the following 
incidents have been familiarly' related to the writer. There 
had a family come into the east part of the town by the 

name of . The young people of this family were 

awkward and unused to compan^r ; Judge Robinson made 
a party at his house, went over himself and invited 

1 Vermont Hist. Mag. 



nOK. JONATHAN ROBINSON. 245 

them, and made tliem promise to come ; they came, and he 
spent the evening chiefl}' in entertaining them, and iu 
every endeavor to make them feel at home. 

When a senator in Congress, he came home on one 
occasion, and Sunday morning, as the family were prepared 
for church, his daughter Polly, afterward Mrs. Merrill, 
came into the room dressed handsomely in sillv ; he noticed 
the dress at once, and made inquiry about it ; his daughter 
answered his inquiries, relating that her mother had pur- 
chased it of a peddler, calling his attention to its excellent 
quality, and seeking his approval of it as a good bargain, 
" I do not care about that," said he ; " go, take it off, and 
put on yowY calico dress, or you shall not go to meeting 
with me ; when your mates have silk dresses to wear, then 
3'ou may wear one." Her mother, who was more aristocrat- 
ically inclined, had bought the dress when he was absent 
at Washington. 

He had great influence over the boys in the street ; he 
was very kind to them. When they came into the street to 
play, he would let them stay until eight o'clock in the even? 
ing, and then would saj^, "Come, bo^^s, now you must go 
home ;" and they complied. On the 16th of August, they 
went to him with entire confidence for money with which 
to buy powder ; and also on the 4th of July. He was 
very tender-hearted. Theophilus Harrington, at the time 
assistant judge, said to Judge Robinson : " Be you 
the judge, and Hj-de the sheritT, and Spenser the State's 
attorney, and there will be nobody hung." 

The following reminiscence gives a characteristic feature 
of those by-gone times. On one of the occasions of the 
return from college of Jonathan E., his son, some difference 
of opinion arose between them, upon some subject that had 
been introduced into their conversation at the table. Jon- 
athan E, said, " I know it is so, and I ought to know ; I am 
21* 



246 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

fresh from the schools." His father replied, " Well, if j'ou 
are fresh from the schools, I can throw you in wrestling." 
"I think not, father," was the quick answer of the young 
man ; for he had returned fresh from wrestling as well as 
from study. " Let us see," said his father. They arose 
from the table ; the order was given for it to be placed one 
side, and the middle of the floor cleared. They grasped 
each other, first at arms'-leugth, but the 3-ounger was the 
more agile, and obtaining the right clinch was victorious ; 
Judge Robinson was thrown so effectually, and so far, as 
nearly to overthrow the table and its contents. He admit- 
ted his son's superiority in wrestling. " I shall not try 
with you again ; " and so the discussion ended, with entire 
good feeling however.^ 

He united with the church in the Wood and Burton 
revival, 1784, at the age of twenty-eight. He was elected 
clerk of the church, and continued so until his death. He 
was fond of doctrinal discussion and study, and of hearing 
leading ministers of the gospel preach, and used, when 
they were temporarily here, to invite them to his house. 
He was much interested in the prophecies, and corre- 
sponded with the Rev. J. Spaulding on the subject. 

He married Mary (born in Hardwick, Mass., 1754; 



1 They were much given to wrestling. Governor Moses Robinson was over the 
mountain in some place, and passed by where there was a raising. He stopped 
and assisted, and when it was through they proceeded as usual to wrestle. After 
wrestling awhile, he stepped up, they having found the bully, and took hold of 
the bully, and threw him at once. The governor was long-legged, and they 
looked at his legs and called him spindle-legged, and said tliat he took the bully 
before he thought of It; so he tried the bully again, and threw him just as 
quickly as before. They did not know him at the time, but soon after he made 
himself known to them. 

A bully came from Massachusetts, and inquired for the Kobinsons, and they 
set forward Jonathan E. He immediately floored the Jlassacliusetts man. The 
stranger looked at him, and said he could not do that again. He took liold again 
and floored him as soon as before. He said he would not try again. They 
had what they called "the Kobinson lock." 



JONATHAN E. ROniNSON, ESQ. 247 

united -^vith the church, 1784 ; died July 15, 1822), daugh- 
ter of Deacon John Fassett. Their children were Jonathan 
Edwards, Mary, Henry, and Isaac Tichenor. 

Jonathan E. Eobinson, Esq., born August 4, 1777, was 
graduated at Williams College, 1797 ; married Alice, daugh- 
ter of Deacon Benjamin Skinner, of Williamstown, Mass. 
Their daughter. May Alice, married Charles Manning, of 
New York cit}-. These had a son, James E. Manning, 
died Februar}^ 17, 1856, who was graduated at Williams 
College in 1848. 

Mr. Robinson, after the death of his first wife, married 
Anna Storms, daughter of Thomas Storms, of New York 
city. . He died April 27, 1831. 

He united with the church in 1803. He was town clerk 
nine years ; judge of the Count}' Court in 1828 ; and resided 
in New York city for several years. His profession was 
that of a lawyer. 

He was for some time leader of the choir in this church. 
He was distinguished for his tenor A'oice and superior ex- 
cellence in singing. While residing in New York, the 
precentor in the congregation, where he attended public 
worship, was absent a Sabbath, and there was some per- 
plexity as to what should be done. General Storms, the 
father of Col. Robinson's second wife, arose and said there 
was a gentleman there who would perhaps be willing to 
lead the singing, if agreeable to the congregation. Gen. 
Storms' proposal was readil}'- assented to, and Col. Robin- 
son stepped forward and took the precentor's place ; he was 
very tall and graceful, and of commanding presence, and 
performed the service of leading the singing in such a 
manner as to astonish and delight the congregation. In 
fugue tunes, if any part faltered, he could at once strike 
that part and sustain it, were it alto or treble^ and descend 
without delay to the hass, and so sustain the whole. 



248 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

The following was told to the writer by the Rev. Hiram 
Bingham : " Dr. Yale, of Kingsborough, mj classical tutor, 
used to say that Mr. Jonathan E. Robinson had the finest 
voice he ever heard. Jonathan E. Robinson was captain 
(afterward colonel), Stephen Robinson, ensign, — ensign 
and lieutenant were then one and the same. We were very 
proud of our captain. He was the most popular man in 
Bennington. He had a very commanding form and person." 

The singing of the Bennington church choir, long noted 
for its excellence, was perhaps never more flourishing than 
when Jonathan E. Robinson was its chorister. Then the 
singers reached round the front seat of the gallery, from 
the east wall on one side of the pulpit to the same wall on 
the opposite side of the pulpit ; and it is said there were a 
score or more of persons, tmy one of whom was competent 
to lead. The old stjde of music was sung with great 
power and majesty. 

Mary, born September 8, 1781 ; united with the church, 
1803 ; died Februarj^ 1, 1831 ; only daughter of Judge 
Robinson ; married Col. O. C. Merrill, born in Farmington, 
Conn., June 18, 1775 ; united with the church, 1831 ; died 
April 12, 1865. A son of theirs, James Sejanour Merrill, 
has been leader of the choir of this church ; also of the Second 
Congregational Church ; also of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. 

Gen. Henry Robinson was born August 26, 1778. He 
was successively paymaster in the army, clerk in the pen- 
sion ofllce, brigadier-general of the militia, and for ten 
years clerk of the County and Supreme Court." ^ 

He united with this church in 1835. He was next but 
one to his father, Judge Robinson, as leader of the choir. 
Returning from Washington to pass the decline of life in 

•I Vermont Hist. Mag. 



DEA. J. F. ROBINSON. 249 

Bennington, he is remembered by the writer of this notice 
for his intelligent and genial conversation, his generous 
nature, and his interest in the public worship of the church 
of his fathers. He died in 1856. 

He married Miss Harriet Haynes, and after her decease 
her sister, Miss Martha P. Haynes. She united with this 
church January 4, 1835, and deceased December 2, 1857, 
while residing with her son, the Rev. Chai'les Seymour Rob- 
inson, at that time pastor in Troy, N. Y. Unceasing in 
her prayers and toils and affection, she had the rare happi- 
ness, to a fond Christian mother, of living to see one of 
her sons an eloquent and successful preacher of the gospel. 
A j^ounger son, Joseph Haswell Robinson, became, subse- 
quently to his mother's decease, a minister of the gospel. 
He died March 4, 1868, aged thirty-two ; having commenced 
a professional career with every promise of a bright and 
useful future. 

Isaac Tichenor Robinson, youngest child of Judge Jona- 
than Robinson, was born August 17, 1790 ; married Maria, 
daughter of Deacon Aaron Hubbell, and deceased in 18G6. 
His son, John F., was a deacon of this church until his 
death. ' 

Deacon John F. Robinson was born in Bennington, May 
6, 1812, and deceased January 25, 1862, in the fiftieth year 
of his age. He was in the discharge of his duty as road- 
master of the Troy and Boston Railroad, and was in the 
cars passing up a little north of this town, when a gust of 
wind was encountered, so violent as to throw the cars from 
the track and down an embankment of some thirty feet 
elevation. He was mortally injured ; he had strength 
sufficient to ascend the bank and take his place in another 
car, and also to walk from the sleigh, in which he was con- 
veyed from the depot, into his house. The accident occurred 



250 MEMOBIALS OF A CENTURY. 

in the forenoon, and at about five o'clock, p. m., he died. 
The Eev. H. G. 0. Dwight, D.D., missionary at Constanti- 
nople, of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign 
Missions, was in the same car, sitting near Deacon Robin- 
son, at the time of the overthrow, and was instantly 
killed. 

Deacon Robinson was hopefully converted in the revival 
in 1831, and united with the church at the same time with 
Doctor Noadiah Swift. Upon the decease of Deacon Aaron 
Hubbell, he and Samuel Chandler were elected deacons of 
the church, September 19, 1845. He had also been treas- 
urer of the society. For several years he was leader of the 
choir, until a disease of the throat compelled him to resign 
that office. Up to the time of his decease, and for some 
years previous, he played the double bass viol, whose mute 
presence in the gallery for years afterward, lying in its 
case unused, was a sad reminder that the hands which so 
carefully guided its tones had become motionless in 
death. 

Deacon Mobinson's acceptance of any duty icas a guaran- 
ty that it would he well and faithfully performed. He was 
remarkable for a clear mind and a firm will, so that when 
once settled down upon any principle as true, or any course 
of action as a duty, it is believed no human power could 
swerve him. In adhesion to sound Calvinistic doctrine, in 
reverence for the Sabbath and sanctuary, and in sobriety of 
demeanor, he might have been regarded as no unapt repre- 
sentative of Puritan times. 

When he became road-master on the Troy and Boston 
road, it was the custom to repair the bridges on the Sab- 
bath, to avoid detention of the cars on week days. He, 
without any hesitation, determined that the repairs should 
take place on some other day than the Sabbath, or he would 
resign his post. Vigorous resistance to his proposed 



DEA. J. F. MOBIKSOJSr. 251 

change was made, on the ground of a serious detention of 
the cars, to the great inconvenience of the travelling public. 
His unyielding determination, however, carried the point, 
and the bridges were repaired on week days, and the ex- 
periment proved it could be accomplished without a deten- 
tion of the train, behind its regular time, of more than fif- 
teen minutes. 

This occasion furnished an incident illustrative of the 
moral weight of his words, when he felt called upon to take 
a decided stand in such a case. Having spoken of the con- 
cerns of the soul, involved in that question of taking the 
Sabbath or the week day to repair the bridges, to the fore- 
man of the working party on the road, who was violently 
opposed to his view, the foreman replied, " It is no matter 
to you whether I lose my soul or not." Deacon Robinson 
rejoined with utmost sincerity and warmth, " It is matter to 
me whether you lose j^our soul or save it." The foreman 
replied no more, but remembered the words, and deeply 
felt their force as he afterward honestlj^ stated, and con- 
ceived thenceforth a profound reverence for Deacon Robin- 
son. 

In the praj'er and conference meeting his prayers and 
remarks were alwaj^s sJiort, and always to the point and 
impressive. 

His natural temperament perhaps, added to much ill-health, 
made him distrustful as to. his evidences, but he found 
comfort and motive to duty in the doctrine of justification 
by faith alone in Christ. When in dying, and from internal 
injuries scarcely able to articulate, he said, "I must trust 
in Christ and in him alone." From a child he was remark- 
ably' conscientious. There was a warmth, tenderness, aud 
sincerity of friendship that attached his friends, and partic- 
ularly his bosom friends, to him in an extraordinary 
decree. On his mother's side he was o-reat-great-graud- 



252 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

child to Eev. Mr. Dewey ; on his father's side he was great- 
great-grandson of Samuel Robinson, Sen. ; and also, by his 
grandmother Robinson, great-great-grandson of Deacon 
John Fassett. 



CHAPTER XVII. 



PERSONAL NOTICES. 



1762. 

' TEPHEN FAY. — Next to Robinson, Harwood, and 
Scott there is the largest number of individuals on 
the roll of the church of the name of Fay. James, 
James, Jr., Daniel, and Lydia Fay are on the old cove- 
nant. Probably Lydia was the wife of James Fay, 
and James, Jr., and Daniel their sons. No other 
mention is made of these individuals afterward in the records 
of the church, nor do the}' appear on any of the lists furnished 
by Gov. Hall in the " Vermont Historical Magazine," nor 
upon the town records. Mention is made of James and 
his son Daniel in Mr. Paige's Hard wick Centennial Address, 
and that he was a deacon in the Separate Church there, and 
died there of small-pox in 1777, and that Daniel died in 1815, 
aged eighty-six. It is probable they came at an early day to 
Bennington, and returned again to Hardwick, and remained 
there. James was brother of Stephen Fay. Mehitable 
and Elizabeth Fay are also among the signers to the old 
covenant. Stephen Fay had a sister Mehitable, and also a 
sister-in-law Elizabeth (wife of his brother John), who 
became members of this church. 

Among the early settlers, Stephen Fay (son of John Fay 

and Elizabeth "Wilmington), who came to Bennington in 

1766, occupied a prominent position as landlord of the 

Green Mountain House, afterward Catamount Tavern, as 

22 



254 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

father of an influential family ; and as exhibiting a spon- 
taneous instance of moral sublimity in connection with the 
death of his son John in Bennington battle, he has won for 
his name a bright place in the history of the town. He sent 
five of his sons ^ to the blood}^ rescue of his country on that 
eventful day. One of them was shot through the head, and 
died instantly. The following is the account in a Connec- 
ticut newspaper of Nov., 1777, three months after the 
battle, by an '■'■ Eye-imtness" : — " A good old gentleman 
who had five sons in the field at the celebrated action of 
Bennington, August 16, 1777, whose furrowed cheeks and 
silvered locks added venerableness to his hoary brows, 
being told that he was unfortunate in one of his sons, re- 
plied, ' What, has he misbehaved? did he desert his post? 
or run from the charge?' 'No, sir,' said the informant; 
' worse than that, he is among the slain ; he fell contending 
mightily in the cause.' ' Then I am satisfied,' replied the 
venerable sire ; " bring him in and lay him before me, that at 
leisure I may behold and survey the darling of my soul ;' 
upon which the corpse was brought and laid before him, all 
besmeared with dirt and gore. He then called for a bowl of 
water and a napkin, and with his own hands washed the 
gore from his sou's corpse, and wiped his gaping wounds 
with a complacenc}'^, as he himself expressed it, which before 
he had never felt or experienced." Another account pre- 
served by tradition gives the following additional expres- 
sion : " I thank God I had a son who was willing to give 
his life for his country." He had ten children : John, Jonas, 
Stephen, Mary, Sarah, Elijah, Beulah, Benjamin, Joseph, 
David. 

John Fay was forty- three years of age at the time of his 
death. He left a widow and children, and man}' of his de- 
scendants are now living in the northern part of this State. 

1 John, Elijah, Bepjamin, Joseph, and David. 



DR. JONAS FAY. 255 

Of the circumstances of his death the following have been 
related : i — • 

He was fighting behind a tree. His last words, as he 
raised his musket to fire once more at the enemy, were, " I 
feel that I am "fighting in a good cause." And as his eye 
ran along the barrel, taking aim, his head just exposed 
from behind the tree, a ball struck him in the very centre of 
his forehead, and he fell with his gun undischarged. Quick 
as lightning ran the cry over the ranks of his townsmen, 
" John Fay is shot ! " Maddened to fury they sprang from 
behind the trees, fired their guns in the very faces of the 
foe, and, clubbing the breeches, leaped over the breastwork 
with an impulse of onset nothing mortal could resist. 

Nathan, a s'on of this John Fay, united with this church 
in the Wood and Burton revival. 

Dr. Jonas Fat was the second child of Stephen Fay. 
He was born at Hard wick, Mass., Jan 13, 1737. He was 
a man of great versatility, boldness, and determination, 
and of acknowledged ability and skill as draughtsman and 
composer of public documents. 

His public career commenced at an early age, while the 
family still resided in Hardwick. In 1756,being then nineteen 
j'ears of age, he was clerk to the military company of Capt. 
Samuel Robinson, Sen., in the campaign of the French war 
at Fort Edward and Lake George. 

He was twenty-nine years of age when he came to Benning- 
ton, and at once took a prominent position among the leading 
actors who came upon the stage in that eventful period of 
the histor}' of the town and State and nation ; and it is diffi- 
cult to tell in wliich of these relations, if not in all equally, 
his services were the most important. 

1 The Rev. C. S. Robinson's Address. 



256 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

" lu 1772 when Governor Try on invited the people of 
Bennington to send agents to New York to inform him of 
the grounds of their complaint, he, with his father, was 
appointed for that purpose. He was clerk to the conven- 
tion of settlers that met in 1774, and resolved to defend by 
force, Allen, "Warren, and others, who were threatened with 
outlawry and death by the New York Assemblj'^, and as 
such clerk certified their proceedings for publication. He 
served as surgeon in the expedition under Allen at the cap- 
ture of Ticonderoga. He was continued in that position by 
the Massachusetts committee who were sent to the lake in 
July, 1775, and also appointed by them to muster the 
troops as they arrived for the defence of that post. He was 
also surgeon for a time to Col. Warner's regiment. 

In Jan., 1776, he was clerk to the convention at Dorset 
that petitioned Congress to be allowed to serve in the com- 
mon cause of the country as inhabitants of the New Hamp- 
shire Grants, and not under New York, and also of that 
held at the same place in July following. He was a mem- 
ber of the convention which met at Westminster in Jan., 
1777, and declared Vei'mont to be an independent State, 
and was appointed chairman of a committee to draw up a 
declaration and petition announcing the fact and their rea- 
sons for it, to Congress, of which declaration and petition 
he was the draughtsman and author. He was secretary to 
the convention that formed the constitution of the State, in 
July, 1777, and was one of the Council of Safety, then ap- 
pointed to administer the affairs of the State until the 
Assembly provided for by the constitution should meet ; 
was a member of the State Council for seven years from 
1778 ; a judge of the Supreme Court in 1782 ; judge of pro- 
bate from 1782 to 1787; and he attended the Continental 
Congress at Philadelphia as the agent of the State under 
appointments made in Jan., 1777, Oct., 1779, June, 1781, 



t 



FAMILY OF DR. JONAS FAT. 257 

and Feb., 1782 In 1780, he, in conjunction with 

Ethan Allen, prepai'ed and published in their joint names 
a pamphlet of thirty pages, on the New Hampshire and New 
York Controversy, which was printed at Hartford, Conn." ^ 

His daughter Lydia married Uriah Edgerton, Esq. She 
became hopefulh' pious after she began to be crippled by 
rheumatism. She used to say that it was her becoming 
so great a sufferer that with God's blessing led to her con- 
version. Before, she was very worldly and ambitious ; af- 
terward, the cause and love of Christ was ever the theme 
upon her lips and warm in her heart. She united with this 
church during the ministry of the Rev. Mr. Marsh. 

Fay Edgerton, a son of Mr. and Mrs. Uriah Edgerton, 
was graduated at the Rensselaer Institute, in Troy, N. Y., 
assisted in the establishment of a scientific school in Utica, 
N. Y., and while engaged as lecturer on chemistry and 
botany in the medical school in Woodstock was taken sick 
and died. He was a bright and devoted Christian. He was 
born in 1803, and deceased in April, 1838. 

Dr. Jonas Fay's daughter, Sarah, married Henry Hopkins, 
onl}^ son of Major Wait Hopkins, and grandson of the Rev. 
Mr. Dewe3\ These had a son, Deacon Fay Hopkins, of 
Oberlin, Ohio. 

Major Heman A. Fat, a twin son of Dr. Jonas Fay, grad- 
uated as cadet at AVest Point in 1808. He was ajipointed 
a lieutenant in the army, in which he served through the 
war in 1812, and soon after became military store-keeper 
at Albany.2 jjg united with a Presb3^terian church in Al- 
bany, and became one of its elders. He afterward returned 
to Bennington to pass the remainder of his life, and became 
a member of this church. 

1 See Vermont Hist. Mag., pp. 171, 172, and Early Hist. Vermont, pp. 463, 464, 
and elsewhere. 2 Vermont Hist. Mag., p. 172. 

22* 



258 MEMORIALS OF A CENTUIIY. 

Mary, daughter of Stephen Fa}^, and first wife of Gov, 
Moses Robinson, and mother of his children, united with 
this chureli Ma}^ 16, 17Go. Two of her descendants in this 
town became ministers of the gospel. 

Benjamin Fat, son of Stephen Fay, was the first sheriff 
in the county and State. He was born Nov. 22, 1750. He 
was sheriff from March 26, 1778, until Oct., 1781, and died 
in 1786.1 

He married Sarah, daughter of Samuel Robinson, Sen. 
She united with the church at thirteen and a half years of 
age. After the death of her first husband she married Gen. 
Heman Swift, of Cornwall, Conn. 

Samuel Fat, Esq., a son of Sheriff Benjamin Fay, lived 
and died in the family mansion, which was formerly " the 
Green Mountain House," "the Catamount Tavern" and 
" Landlord Fay's," — the house in which the Council of 
Safety met ; afterward, altered and added to. An obituary 
notice from the pen of Gov. Hall appeared in the " Benning- 
ton Banner " and was copied into the " Vermont Record," 
valuable for its historical reminiscences as well as a just 
tribute to Mr. Fay. Considerable portions of it shall be 
inserted here. 

" Samuel Fay, 

Esq., was born in Bennington, Aug. 16, 1772, and died 
the 25th of Dec. 1863, in the ninety-second year of his age. 
The day he became five years old, — the 16th of August, 
1777, — was fought the battle of Bennington, of which he 
retained through life a clear recollection, remembering well 
the noise of the guns, and the extraordinary confusion of 
the day. The scene at the execution of Redding was also 
fresh in his mind. He was appointed a deputy-sheriff under 
Gen. David Robinson. This was in 1793, when Thomas 

1 Vermont Hist Mag., p. 171. 



MR. S. FAY AS HIGH SHERIFF. 259 

ChittGiicIen was governor, Elijah Paine, Samuel Knight, 
and Isaac Tichenor, judges of the Supreme Court. He held 
the office of deput}', with the exception of two years, until- 
1811, when he was chosen high-sheriff, and was annually 
re-elected for twelve succeeding years, until the year 1823 ; 
making twenty-eight years' service in the sheriff depart- 
ment of the county. During this period the position of 
sheriff was made more important, and its duties greatly 
more arduous and responsible than at the present day. 

" The laws allowing imprisonment for debt were then in 
full force, and suits were some twenty or thirty- times as 
numerous as the}' now are. Aside from the hazards that 
an officer incurred in the service of original writs, which 
were many, those in the collection of executions were very 
great. It was not uncommon for an officer to have fifty or 
more executions in his hands for collection at the same 
time, ranging in amount from three dollars up to several 
hundred dollars. If a debtor did not satisfy an execution, 
within its life of sixty days, it was the duty of the officer 
to commit him to jail, where he must remain until pay- 
ment was made, unless he took the poor debtor's oath, 
which could only be done after a probationary imprison- 
ment for twenty days, subsequently reduced to six daj's. 
If the officer saw the debtor for a moment and then suf- 
fered him to go at large, he became liable for the debt, 
unless he should afterward, within the life of the execu- 
tiou, arrest and commit him to prison. The performance 
of the sheriff's duty to the acceptance of both creditor and 
debtor, without incurring loss to himself, required a talent 
and skill which few men^Dossessed. Mr. Fay was remark- 
ably successful in the discharge of the varied duties of his 
position. While many of the sheriffs, in most of the other 
counties in the State, either became insolvent from the 
want of proper diligence and care, or rendered themselves 



260 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

unpopular, and even odious, b}'' their extraordinary harsh- 
ness and severity, Mr. Fay, by his promptness and energy 
in the right place, and his uniform kindness and care for 
the interest and convenience of those against whom he 
held process, was enabled, through the long period of his 
service, to preserve the confidence and affectionate regard 
of all parties. Among the many hundreds of debtors 
whose bare word he took to meet him at an appointed time 
to relieve him from his official responsibility, such was the 
good feeling and gratitude which his unvarying civilit}^ and 
kindness inspired, that instances of failure rarely occurred, 
and never to his services pecuniary loss. Few if any men 
in the State have ever performed the duties of so difficult 
and responsible a station, for so long a period of time, with 
such uniform success, and with such entire approbation of 
the public. • 

" His mental faculties seemed to continue to the last, in 
almost their original brightness. The unpretending dig- 
nity and courtesy with which he received the calls of vis- 
itors, and the cordial greeting which he gave them, alwaj'S 
made a pleasant and agreeable impression, and would 
mark him, in the estimation of mere casual observers, as a 
favorable specimen of the old-school gentleman. Those 
who knew him well were fully assured that these pleasing 
outward qualities had their foundation and source in the 
natural goodness of his heart, and his integrity of pur- 
pose. Of him it may be truly said, that in all the affairs 
of life which his duty required him to perform, he acted 
his part worthily' and well, and that his name is now, after 
the lapse of more than ninety-one«years, enrolled upon the 
list of the dead, undefaced by any blot. 

" Mr. Fa}', in earl}' life, married Ruth, daughter of Col. 
Bei'.jamin Fassett. Their children were Samuel R., Benja- 
min Fassett, and John." 



SONS OF SAMUEL FAT. 261 

Benjamin F. Fat died Feb. 15, 1853, born Oct. 21, 
1805. His death was the first in Mr. Fay's familj', and 
gave to Mr. and Mrs. Fay a shock from which they never 
recovered. He was possessed of much business talent, 
and had been engaged in wide and extensive business 
operations. 

Samuel R. Fat, born Nov. 5, 1802, died Oct. 13, 1860, 
united with the church March 4, 1827, and was a marked 
example of purity and conscientiousness of Christian char- 
acter. 

J,OHN Fat born Feb. 1, 1815, died Feb. 25, 1866, was, 
at the time of his death, and had been, for many years, 
leader of the choir. He possessed a musical ear, so per- 
fect as probably not to be surpassed ; a tenor voice singu- 
lar for its musical purity and force, and the degree to 
which he could make it effective at his pleasure ; and 
superior common sense and leadership as a conductor of 
church singing. Besides there was peculiar to him un- 
affected simplicity and strength of social feeling, and a 
profound all-controlling attachment to the church and 
parish of his fathers. His warm and genial companionship 
was not confined to a few. He had a kind word and cor- 
dial greeting for all, whether of high or low degree. This 
was in part the secret of the large congregation — throng- 
ing the sanctuary — that gathered at his funeral. 

His singing was never better than in the last year of his 
life ; his voice was never more tender, forceful, or impres- 
sive. Not only as leader of the singing, but also by per- 
sonal efforts socially, he appeared to have received new 
measure of zeal for the unit}^ and prosperity of the church 
and congregation. 

His beloved choir were with him in his last moments, 
and received from him an affecting farewell. He united 
with this church July 4, 1858. He was married on his 



262 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

death-bed to Miss Alice Eobinson, daughter of Col. O. C. 
Merrill. 

Benjamin Fat, son of Sheriff Benjamin Fay, united with 
this church in the revival in 1803, and removed to Chicago, 
where he died in the eighty-ninth year of his age. He 
married Amelia, daughter of Gen. Safford. The following 
is part of an obituary notice of him from the "Benning- 
ton Banner " : — 

" He warmly sympathized with those who are for main- 
taining and perpetuating the National Union, which his 
family's blood had been shed to establistft * 

"On receiving the intelligence of the recent decease of 
his only brother, — two years his senior, — at Bennington 
Centre, so great was the shock which he received there- 
from that he could not rally under it. He lived an honest, 
truthful, and Christian life ; and, from the commencement 
of his last illness, had no desire to live, save to comfort 
and administer to the wants of his aged companion. His 
heart, during his sickness, seemed to overflow with grati- 
tude to God for his goodness and mercy for sparing him 
so many years ; and the last audible expressions which 
passed his lips were those of prayer and adoration to him." 

" Colonel Joseph Fat, son of Stephen Fay, was born 
at Hardwick, about 1752, and came to Bennington, a mem- 
ber of his father's family, in 1776. He was secretar}^ to 
the Council of Safety, and of the State Council, from Sep- 
tember, 1777, to 1784, and Secretary of State from 1778 
to 1781. He was the associate of Ira Allen in conducting 
the famous negotiation with Gen. Haldimand, by which 
the operations of the enemj'' were paralj^zed, and the north- 
ern frontier protected from invasion during the three last 
years of the Revolutionary struggle. He was a man of 
very respectable talents and acquirements, of fine personal 



NATHAN CLARK. 263 

appearance and agreeable manners, and well calculated to 
manage such a diplomatic adventure with adroitness and 
ability. He built and resided in the house^ afterward 
the residence of the late Truman Squier, next north of the 
court-house, but removed to New York city in 1794, where 
he died, of the j^ellow fever, in October, 1803." ^ He mar- 
ried Margaret, daughter of the Rev. Mr. Dewey. 

Hon. Theodore S. Fay is their grandson. He was re- 
cently minister of the United States to Switzerland, author 
of one or more religious publications, and a popular writer. 

Judge David Fat, youngest son of Stephen Faj^ mar- 
ried Mary Stanniford (daughter of John Stauniford, "Wind- 
ham, Conn.), a member of this church. The following 
characteristic anecdotes are related of Judge Fay : 
" He used to say to Gov. Moses Robinson, 'Brother Rob- 
inson, don't let the church go down ; j^ou take care of the 
church, and I'll take care of the world.' To William Has- 
well, addressing him familiarly, ' Let the church be at 
peace, and there'll be no war with the rest ; the church has 
a great sway in this world, though there are a good many 
little men in it.' " 

n. Nathan Clark " was a resident of Bennington as 
early as September, 1762. . . . He was a leading man 
in the controversy of the settlers with the New York laud 
claimants, and his name appears in nearly all of their public 
proceedings prior to the Revolution, generally as chairman 
of their committees and conventions. He is said, by tra- 
dition, to have been ' a pen and ink man,' and to have 
been the draughtsman of man}^ of the published papers 
of the early time. He was chairman of the Committee of 

1 Since destroyed by fire. 2 Vermont Hist, Mag., p. 172. 



264 MEMORIALS OF A CENTUET. 

Safety, of Bennington, in 1776, and, as such, held corre- 
spondence with Gen. Gates, then commander at Ticonderoga, 
rendering him substantial and efficient aid in collecting 
and forwarding supplies for the army. He was representa- 
tive from the town in the first legislature held in the State, 
which met at Windsor, in March, 1778, and was speaker 
of the Assembly. He is said to have been of decided en- 
ergy of character and of very respectable talent. One of 
his sons, Nathan Clark, Jr., died of a wound received in 
Bennington battle. He had other sons in the battle, one 
of whom, Isaac Clark, was afterward known as ' Old 
Eifle,' and served as colonel in the war of 1812. Nathan 
Clark died at Bennington April 8, 1792, aged seventy-four, 
leaving many descendants. ^ Mrs. Salem White is a descend- 
ant and member of this chm'ch." 

in. Phineas Scott first came here, at the age of seven- 
teen, with his father. They returned to Connecticut, 
whence they came. The old man died there, and Phineas 
soon returned . He died here June 6,1819, aged se ventj^-four. 
A name, Phinehas Scott, is upon the roll of Capt. Fassett's 
military company in 1764. Phineas Scott had five sons, 
Samuel (married Lucretia Harmon), Henry, Hiram, John, 
Kinsley, and Martin ; also, daughters, Clara (Mrs. Squiers) , 
Betsey (Mrs. Bingham), Mary (Mrs. Hawks), and Rhoda. 

Colonel Martin, son of Phineas, was born in Benning- 
ton January 18, 1788. He was a noted marksman, and 
many anecdotes are related of his extraordinary skill. It 
was not a difficult thing for him to kill one bird with one 
barrel of his gun, and another with the other, when a flock 
were on the wing. " He would drive a nail into a board 
part way with a hammer, and then, taking the farthest dis- 

1 Vermont Hist. Mag., p. 173. 



COL. MARTIN SCOTT. 265 

tance at which his eye could distinctly see it, drive it home 
with his unerring bullet." " April, 1814, he was appointed 
second lieutenant in the army, and rose to the rank of lieu- 
tenant-colonel, always sustaining the character of a brave 
and active officer." " He lost his life in Mexico, at the 
sanguinary battle of Molino del Eey, and his remains were 
brought to Bennington and interred iu the old Centre 
burying-ground, beside those of his own family relatives." 
His death took place September 8, 1847. Of the inscription 
on the massive monument to his memory, the following is a 
part : " Brevet Col. Scott, of the 5th regiment of infantry, 
was thirty -three j^ears in the service of his country on the 
western frontier ; in Florida ; in Mexico, at the battles of 
Palo Alto, Eesaca de la Palma, Monterey, Vera Cruz, 
Cherubusco, and was killed at Molino del Rey, He com- 
manded his regiment in nearlj^ all these engagements, and 
received two brevets for gallant conduct. No braver or 
better officer fell in the Mexican war." i 

1 See notice of Col. Scott in Vermont Hist. Mag., pp. 177, 178. 
23 




CHAPTER XVIII. 

PERSONAL NOTICES. 

1763-1765. 

"lAPT. Elijah Dewey was the son of the Rev. Jedi- 
diah Dewey, and was born in Westfield, Mass., 
L: v?^^ November 28, 17^4, and came to Bennington with 

his father in the fall of 1763. 

His name is found among the privates in the 
first military company formed in town, in October, 
1764, he being then under twenty j^ears of age. He was 
captain of one of the Bennington companies envly in the 
war of the Revolution : was at Ticonderoga with his com- 
pany in the fall of 1776,^ and again at the evacuation of 
that fort by St. Clair in July, 1777. He was at the head 
of his company in the battle of Bennington, August 16, 
1777 ; also in service at Saratoga on the surrender of Bur- 
goyne in October following." 2 

Captain Dewey also served the public in various stations 

1 " Pay roll of Capt. Elijah Dewey's company, in Col. Moses Robinson's regi- 
ment of the militia in the service of the United States of America, Mount Inde- 
pendence, 1776 : — 

" Elijah Dewey, captain; Ebenezer Walbridge, 1st lieut.; Thomas Jewott, 2d 
lieut.; Nathaniel Fillmore, ensign ; Joseph Kudd, Daniel Harmon, John Fay, 
sergeants; John Smith, Jedidiah Merrill, Thomas Story, corporals. Privates, — 
Samuel Cutler, Ezekiel Harnion, Joseph Wickwire, Daniel Kinsley, Jonathan 
Parsons, Andrew ^Veaver, Abner Marble, Phineas Scott, Aaron Haynes, Silas 
Harmon, Joseph Robinson, Ezekiel Smith, Scth Porter, David Powers, Hopestill 
Armstrong, Joseph Willoughby, Samuel Hunt, Joshua Carpenter, Othniel Green, 
Philip Matteson, Koswel Mosely." — Vermont Hist. Mag., p. 153. 

2 Vermont Hist. Mag., p. 176. 



CAPT. ELIJAH DEWEY. 267 

in civil life. At the conveution of delegates of the inhab- 
itants of the New Hampshire Grants west of the Green 
Mountains, at Cephas Kent's, in Dorset, January 16, 1776, 
it was voted that Simeon Hathaway, Elijah Dewey, and 
James Breakenridge, be a committee with power " to warn 
a general meeting of the committees on the Grants, when 
the}^ shall judge necessar}^ from southern intelligence." ^ 

He represented the town in General Assembly, in 1786- 
87-88, in 1796, and again in 1812-13 ; and was a member 
of the Council of Censors in 1792. 

He was a Federalist in politics, and headed the list of 
presidential electors of this State in 1797, and also in 1801, 
voting on the first occasion for Washington, and on the 
second for John Adams. 

Captain Dewey was a man of sound and discriminating 
judgment, and of undoubted integrity, who did well and 
faithfully whatever he undertook.^ 

He did not unite with the church until his last sickness. 
He deceased Oct. 16, 1818. He received the sacrament at 
his residence, and united with the church May 17, 1818. 
His active, earnest, and life-long devotion to the external 
religious prosperity of the community, entitles him to a 
prominent place among the supporters here of the means of 
grace. It was a common remark of his that no one lost 
anything by going to church. He was very wealthy, nearly 
as much so as Governor Moses Robinson ; and no one in 
the place, probably, except the last-named gentlemen, con- 
tributed more largely to the support of public worship. 

There was great wealth in the place. Some one has stated 
Gov. Robinson's investments were estimated at over $90,000 ; 
Capt. Elijah Dewey's at $50,000 or $75,000. Capt. Dewey 
kept a public house during the first session of the Legisla- 
ture, and as compensation for his services or attentions in 

1 Early Hist. Vt., p. 226. 2 Vermont Hist. Mag., p. 176, 



268 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

some way, they voted him the "Gore," — a gore o\ land, 
not set off to any towns, in the north part of the State, which 
ultimately, and before it left his hands, became quite valua- 
ble. The ministers and councils used to receive accommo- 
dations and large hospitalities at Capt. Dewey's. He liked 
to see all things going on in good order, and church matters 
among the rest. The Rev. Mr. Spaulding and his daugh- 
ter were his guests, while Mr. Spaulding preached here for 
a year and more. 

His first wife was Eunice Brush, married March, 1766. 
She died March 7, 1788. His second wife was Mrs. Mary 
McEowen, and he was her third husband. 

Three daughters, Sarah, Ruth, and Betty, married respect- 
ively Dea. Aaron Hubbell, Capt. Moses Robinson, Jr., and 
Col. Benjamin Fassett. As will be seen by reference to the 
notices of these gentlemen, four or five of Capt. Dewey's 
descendants became preachers of the gospel, — one a deacon 
in this church, one the wife of a minister of the gospel, and 
another the wife of a missionary, and as such is now in 
India, and many of his descendants members of this church. 

An anecdote ^ of the Bennington battle connected with 
Capt. Dewey, and not known to the writer to be in print, 
is as follows : Benjamin Fay, afterward first sheriff of the 
county and State, resided at that time in the house now the 
residence of Norman Crosier, and had in his possession a 
punch-bowl, an article of British manufacture, on the bot- 
tom of which was the inscription, " Success to British 
Arms." Some of the men (who had just been fighting for 
victory over British arms, and those hired by Great Britain 
to keep America in subjection), and Capt. Elijah Dewey 
with them, passed that waj^, on their return from the battle, 
and stopped at Mr. Fay's well to drink. This punch-bowl 
was brought out for them to drink from. As the bowl, in 

1 Related by John Fay. 



MRS. CAPT. ELIJAH DEWET. 2G9 

the hands of some one drinking, was turned bottom upward, 
one of the men espied the inscription, and shouted, " These 
are tones; break the hoid; don't let us di'inJc out of it." 
Capt. Dewey interposed and said, " Tut, tut ; no, no ! 
They are all friends here." The bowl is now in the pos- 
session of John Benjamin Calhoun, the son of Mrs. Sarah 
Calhoun, who was sister of Benjamin Fa}'. 

Elijah Dewey Hubbell, a grandson, first son of 
Deacon Aaron Hubbell, inherited a valuable farm from 
Captain Dewey. The famih' also have in their possession a 
full-length portrait of Captain Dewey, said to be an excel- 
lent likeness. 

The following Bennington battle anecdote is related of 
Mrs. Captain Elijah Dewey. They kept the tavern, now 
the Walloomsac ; and she at the time of the battle had 
large kettles of meat boiling for dinner for the men when 
they should return from the battle. Captain Isaac Tiche- 
nor, then a young man, arrived in town late on that day on 
his business (commissary of the United States), by the 
way of Lebanon Springs and Williamstown, and stopped 
at the tavern. He ordered dinner, and was told bj- Mrs. 
Dewey he could not have any. He referred to the contents 
of the kettles boiling on the fire. The spirited replj' of 
Mrs. Dewey was, " That is for the men loho have gone to 
fight for their country, where you ought to he." He quickly 
explained his business. He had been bus}^ obtaining sup- 
plies for the army, and had rode hard oi> horseback all that 
day to get to Bennington, in the discharge of his dut3\ 
Upon learning the facts in the case, Mrs. Dewey relented, 
and gave the tired commissary some dinner. 

Mrs. Captain Dewey was a remarkabl}'^ good house- 
keeper ; an anecdote illustrative of this, told of her, is as 
follows : A young gentleman, with white pants, was moving 
around amongst the utensils of her kitchen very circum- 
23* 



270 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

spectly, for fear of soiling his pants. She spoke up and 
said, " You need not be afraid of my pots and kettles. 
They are kept clean outside as well as within." 

II. Deacon Hezekiah Armstrong and his wife Miriam 
united with this church in the revival in 1803. He was 
elected deacon of the church Sept. 6, 1812, and continued 
in the office until his death, March 4, 1816, aged seventy- 
one years. He is the first of that name on the roll of the 
church. He resided in Pleasant Valley, and has numerous 
descendants. The mother of W. E. Hawks, of North Ben- 
nington, was daughter of Deacon Hezekiah, 

Zephaniah Armstrong, his son, united with the church in 
March, 1803. Mrs. Catherine, wife of Zephaniah, united 
with the church March 7, 1824, died May 12, 1862, at the 
age of eight3^-seven. Of a strong constitution, high fore- 
head, and fair countenance, and possessing great determina- 
tion ; left a widow at an early age, she reared up a large 
family, conducting her business with singular energy. She 
became hopefully pious under Mr. Peters' ministry here. 
The occasion was the sickness, and hopeful conversion in 
his sickness, of her youngest son, Hiram, and his death. 
He had great distress of mind initil obtaining peace in 
Christ. He insisted on seeing Mr. Peters. 

Mrs. Ruth Dickerson united with the ohurch March 4, 
1827, died Jan. 18, 1868, aged eighty-two ; faithful in her 
attachment to the church, and in her consistent testimony 
for Christ ; was daughter of Hopestill Armstrong, and Lyd- 
ia Haynes, his wife. Their children were Azariah ; Sarah, 
married Elijah Fillmore ; David ; Oliver ; Ruth ; Omindia, 
married Mr. Gerry. Ethan Armstrong, son of David, 
united with this church Sept. 4, 1841. 

The names of John and Lebbeus Armstrong are on the 



THOMAS HENDERSON. 271 

I'oll of the military company of 1764. The name Heze- 
kiah Armstrong is on the list of persons settled here prior 
to June 1, 1765.1 

John and Hezekiah were brothers, and cousins to Hope- 
still and Lebbeus, who were also brothers. These four 
came, as early as 1764, from Norwich, Conn., and settled in 
town, — Plezekiah on the Brimmer place ; Lebbeus on the 
Lyman Armstrong place ; John on the Dimmick place. 
They were unmarried when they came. The mother of 
John and Hezekiiih gave them a bed, and directed that 
whichever of them should be first married should surrender 
his share of the bed to the other. In the time of the Ben- 
nington battle Hopestill lived in a log cabin, and was sur- 
rounded by a wilderness. 

III. Thomas Henderson, whose farm was near Irish 
Corners, united with this church in 1765. He married a 
daughter of Lieut. James Breakenridge, his next neighbor. 
His daughter Jennet, a member of this church, married Dr. 
Noadiah Swift, son of the Rev. Job Swift, D.D. His 
daughter, Phebe, married Harry Smith, Esq., and after his 
decease the Rev. J. H. Linsley, D.D. Two of her sons by 
the first marriage became ministers of the gospel, — the Rev. 
Albert Smith, D.D. , and the Rev. Henry Smith, D.D., Pro- 
fessor in Lane Theological Seminary. A son by Dr. Linsley, 
Charles E. Linsle}', is a minister of the gospel. Also, the Rev. 
Abner Henderson was a grandson of Thomas Henderson. 

Mr. Henderson was a man of the old Scotch type," — Cal- 
vinistic, strict in his religious notions, but of amiable dis- 
position and incorruptible integrit3\ He threw away an 
old sword, an heirloom in the family, saying that he was a 
man of peace. ^ 

1 See Vermont Hist. Mag., articles Bennington and Dorset. 

2 Letter of the Rev, C. E. Linsley. 



272 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

Lucy and Thena Henderson united witli the church in 
1803. Lucy Henderson's name is on the diagram as one 
of the proprietors of pew No. 2, with the SafFords. 

IV. The Harmons were here at an early date in the his- 
tory of the town. In the printed list of persons settled in 
Bennington prior to June 1, 1765, prepared from recollec- 
tion by Samuel Robinson, Esq.,i are the names of Barna- 
bas and Simeon Harmon. The latter name is on the old 
covenant. It is also among the names of those who united 
with the Bennington church during the ministry of Mr. 
Dewey, Aug. 28, 1766 ; together with that of Nathaniel 
Harmon, united with the church Sept. 6, 1776 ; Daniel Har- 
mon, united with the church May 30, 1774 ; and Lucretia 
Harmon, united with the church May 30, 1774. There are 
seventeen individuals of this name on the roll of the church 
for the first centur}-. Silas and Joshua united with the 
church Jan., 1780. Ezekiel united with the church June 20, 
1790. His wife Grace united with the church Sept. 26, 
1790. Their daughter Lucretia (wife of Samuel Scott, died 
1832) united with the church Jan., 1803, Celinda (wife of 
James Henry, died Sept. 14, 1865, aged eightj'-four) united 
with the church July, 1803 ; Elizabeth and Rhoda united 
with the church March, 1803. 

Fisk Harmon is a minister of the gospel. He is the son 
of Austin Harmon, born Aug. 24, 1779, — a respectable 
citizen, who deceased a few years since at a great age, — and 
grandsdn of Austin Harmon, who settled here at an earl}^ 
day, and owned an extensive farm upon the western border 
of the town, born April 9, 1757. 

Simeon Harmon united with the church Aug. 28, 1766. 
The following particulars concerning him are stated by a 

1 Vermont Hist. Mag. 



DEA. NATHANIEL HARMON. 273 

grandson : ^ " Friday afternoon was set apart for the 
prayer-meeting at Grandmother Robinson's. He would not 
allow anything to interfere — leave plough and team, mount 
one of his colts and present himself in the midst of his be- 
loved friends, and pray and praise God for one hour, the 
next hour at home diligently following his plough. . . The 
last da3's of his life he travelled from place to place holding 
religious meetings." 

Dea. NATHA>aEL Harmon was here at an early day. By the 
records of the town it appears he purchased a farm here in 
1765. An anecdote, illustrative of his promptness and 
earnestness (related to me by Dewej' Ilubbell), identifies 
him personally with the Bennington battle. It was a rude 
transaction, but the time was urgent. It was better that 
the dead bodies of the slain foe should be buried in any 
manner than left to breed pestilence upon the surface of the 
earth. There were two large excavations for wintering 
potatoes — left open in the summer time until another har- 
vest — near by ; Mr. Harmon took his rope slip-noose 
halter from his horse's neck, and dragged the dead bodies 
of the slain enemy therewith into the excavations and covered 
them with earth. There were some sixty bodies thus 
buried in each of the two excavations. They were near 
where the Barnet house now stands ; parts of the action 
of that eventful day were fought there. 

Mr. Hubbell related another anecdote. Umbrellas were 
first brought for sale into the town in his day. Dea. Harmon, 
being asked to purchase one, declined, saying that a little of 
the Almighty's rain would not hurt him. 

Dr. E. D. Harmon, of Chicago, furnishes the following 
reminiscence of him : " I recollect his acts of kindness to 
myself and other children when on our way to the school- 

1 Dr. E, D. Harmon, of Chicago. 



274 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

house at Irish Corners. If he was present when we passed 
by his apple-orchard or fruit-j'-ard we were sure to receive 
a bestowal of his bounty in some choice fruit." 

He was possessed of ardent and active piety. He devoted 
himself for some years to visiting from house to house, as a 
modern colporteur, selling and giving away small printed 
collections of religious verses and other matter, designed to 
promote concern and diligence in religion. A portion of 
a collection of verses, of which he himself was the author, 
has been preserved. It is 32mo size, and bears the fol- 
lowing title : "Poetical Sketches on various Solemn Subjects ; 
composed by Dea. Nathaniel Harmon, late of Bennington, 
of pious memor}^ ; written a short time before his death. 
Bennington : printed by Anthony Haswell, 1796." The first 
three stanzas of one of the hymns in this collection is here 
subjoined, on the necessity of works being joined to faith : 

" Faith without works is always dead ; 
It occupies a room alone ; 
Much like the knowledge in the head, 
Where grace of heart was never sown. 

" Works without faith can never save ; 
But faith and works must strictly join ; 
Though faith be strong and works be brave, 
Yet faith and works we must combine. 

" Faith without works is never true ; 
Works without faith is poor enough ; 
They part the hoof, but do not chew, 
Or chew the cud, and part no hoof." 

Of the Dr. Harmon, whose letter is quoted from in the 
above sketch, the following obituary notice is taken from 
the " Bennington Banner," Jan. 13, 1869 : — 

" Decease of a Native of Bennington. — Dr. Elijah D. 



GEN. EBENEZER WALBRIDGE. 275 

Harmon died at Chicago on tlie 3d inst. He was born in 
this town on the 20th August, 1782, and was, consequently, 
in his eightj'-seventh year at the time of his demise. At 
the age of twenty-four, in 1806, he went to Burlington, and 
engaged in the practice of medicine, and he was an assist- 
ant surgeon in McDonough's fleet at the battle of Platts- 
burg. Dr. Harmon made his first trip from Vermont to 
Illinois in 1828, but he first went to Chicago to settle, as 
surgeon to the garrison at Fort Dearborn, in the year 1830, 
and he was for quite a while the only physician in Chicago. 
Dr. Harmon was already advanced in years when Chicago 
began its career of rapid growth, and he has spent his days 
in the midst of the bustling activity of the young and 
vigorous city, in comparative retirement, and like one 
belonging to a b^'-gone generation." 

V. General Ebenezer Walbridge came to Benning- 
ton in 1765. He was an officer in Col. "Warner's regiment 
of Green Mountain Boys in the winter campaign of 1776, 
in Canada, and on the 3d of March, of that year, he was 
before Quebec, a lieutenant in Capt. Gideon Brownson's 
companj^ and adjutant of the regiment. He also served 
as adjutant in Bennington battle, where his brother, Henry 
"Walbridge, was killed. In 1778 he was lieutenant-colonel 
in the militia, and, in 1780, succeeded Col. Herrick in the 
command of the Bennington regiment, and afterward be- 
came brigadier-general. He was in active service on the 
frontiers at several periods during the war, and in Dec, 
1781, when troops were called out, by both New York and 
Vermont, to sustain their respective claims to jurisdiction 
over the "Western Union," as it was called. Col. Wal- 
bridge commanded those of this State. But for the de- 
cided superiority^ of the Vermout force, and a disposition 
to forbearance on the part of the Vermont authorities, it 



276 MEMORIALS OF A CEXTUUT. 

seems probable an actual military collision would have oc- 
curred. The matter was, however, compromised for the 
time beiug, through the mediation of Gen, Stark, who was 
then in command at Saratoga, and the troops on both sides 
were withdrawn. The correspondence of Col. "Walbridge 
with the New York authorities, which is creditable to his 
intelligence and decision of character, as well as forbear- 
ance, is preserved among the papers of Gov, Clinton, in 
the State library, at Albany, 

Gen. Walbridge also served the State faithfully and well 
in civil life. He was a representative of the town in the 
General Assembly, in 1778 and 1780, and a member of the 
State Council for eight years, — 1786-1795,1 

His remains were interred in the old burying-ground, 
and a memorial slab, at the head of the grave, has upon it 
this inscription : — 

" In memory of Gen, Ebenezer "Walbridge, who departed 
this life Oct, the 3d, 1819, in the eighty-second year of his 
age. 

" He was an affectionate husband, and indulgent father, 
and a friend to all mankind. He died in the full belief of 
a glorious resurrection in and through the atonement of 
Jesus Christ our Lord." 

The Walbridge genealogy is traced back to Suffolk 
count}', England. Miss Charlotte Walbridge, of Albany, 
has a copy of the coat of arms of the Suffolk Walbridge», 
on which are certain armorial bearings to show that " Sir 
William de Walbridge accompanied king Richard Coeur de 
Lion to the holy land, in the 4th crusade, and there greatly 
distinguished himself." He was " under one of the con- 
federated ducal sovereigns of France." 

Gen. Ebenezer Walbridge, born in Norwich, Conn., Dec. 
20, 1738 ; Elizabeth Stebbins, his wife, born in Northfield, 

1 Vermont Hist. Mag. 



THE WALBHIDGES. 211 

Mass., Oct. 1736. One of his sons, Stebbins, married 
Betsey Denio, of Bennington. Tlieir children: Sophia, 
married John L. Winne ; Betsey, married Uel Hicks ; Steb- 
bins D., married Harriet Hicks (second wife, Eliza Ann 
Skinner, April 18, 1835) ; George, man*ied Mary Ann 
Olin ; Charlotte ; Fannj- , married Joseph N. Hinsdill ; 
Ebenezer ; Ebenezer 2d, married Mary Ann Hicks ; Bet- 
sey W., married Chauncey Hopkins. Henry, the first child 
of Gen. Ebenezer Walbridge, had, among other children, a 
son, Henry, whose daughter, Mar}^, married Washington 
Hunt, one of the governors of New York. Hiram Wal- 
bridge, of New York city, is also his son. 
24 




CHAPTER XIX. 

PEKSONAL NOTICES. 

1766-1769. 

)LNATHAN HUBBELL. — On a petition of the 
settlers to the king, dated Nov., 1766, among 
other names is that of Eluathan Hubbell. He was 
also one of the ten rescuers of Remember Baker, 
captm-ed, and attempted to be carried of, by 
Munro and his part}^ in the interest of the New 
Yoi'k land claimants. ^ 

On his tombstone, in the burying-ground, is the follow- 
ing inscription : — 

" The body of EInathan Hubbell 

'J Beside this monumental stoue 
Consigned is, dust to dust. 
Reader, perhaps a single hour 
Shall make tliis fate thine own." 

"He departed this life July the 21st, a. d. 1788, aged 
seventj^-one years. He was converted in the sixt^'-ninth 
year of his age. 

" Reader, accept the solemn call, 

Instruction from the tomb receive ; 
Behold the certain fate of all, 
And seal your pardon while you live." 

1 Hall's Early Ilistory Vermont, p. IS?. 



DBA. AARON HVBBELL. 279 

The record of the date of his uniting with the church has 
not been preserved ; probably it took place in one or two 
years after the revival under Messrs. Wood and Burton. 
The names of Aaron, a sou, and of Bildad, another son 
(father of James Hubbell, Esq.), are on the records as 
uniting with this church about the time of that revival, and 
two years previous to the father's conversion. 

James Hubbell, Esq., was born in Bennington, Oct. 17, 
1775 ; was admitted to the bar in Dec, 1806. He resided 
in New York for a considerable period, and held the office 
of magistrate under DeWitt Clinton, which gave him ac- 
tive and responsible emplo3-ment. He afterward returned 
to Bennington, and died here April 24, 1840. ^ He was the 
father of Mrs. Henry Kellogg. 

Aaron Hubbell, son of Elnathau Hubbell, was born in 
Old Stratford, Conn., Sept. 14, 1757. He was converted 
and united with the church as above. His wife, Sarah, 
united with the church when he did. 

He was twenty j'ears of age at the time of the Benning- 
ton battle, and a member of Captain Samuel Robinson's 
company of mil tia. He afterward became lieutenant of 
the company. After the first successful engagement of the 
battle, — that at Baum's redoubt, — he was placed as one 
of the guards sent over the prisoners captured in that ac- 
tion, as they were marched to the Bennington meeting- 
house. In a manuscript statement, in possession of Gov. 
Hall, Mr. Hubbell states that those prisoners numbered 
over six hundred. 

He possessed great unaffecteduess and simplicity of char- 
acter. An incident related of him to this effect may be 
mentioned. He had a very large woodpile in a place deemed 

1 Vermont Hist. Mag., p. 106. 



280 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

too prominent by some members of the famil}'', and they 
remonstrated with him, saying, " "What will passers-by 
think of it?" His reply was, "Any man of sense, I am 
sure, would like to see a large woodpile ; and as for those 
who haven't sense I care not what they think concerning 
it." 

He was more careful than some others not to speak 
against his neighbors and fellow-citizens. If aught was 
said ill of others in his presence, he was accustomed to sa}^, 
" Well, we may be left to do the same or worse." He held 
for years the office of justice of the peace, which was in 
those days an honored office, and bore the appellation 
Esquire Hubbell. He was greatly respected for his integrity 
and good judgment. 

He was seventy-seven years of age when appointed 
deacon, December 15, 1834. The church w^as divided upon 
two candidates, and there was much spirit on both sides, 
and evil consequences threatened. To avoid the perpetua- 
tion of strife in the church, both parties turned to Esquire 
Hubbell. He was nominated and elected without opposi- 
tion. Pie arose and said, " I would not accept this respon- 
sible position, but I see in what condition the church is ; 
there are rival candidates, and there may be difficult^' ; to 
preserve the church from this, I accept the office." There 
was intense feeling of relief, and many were in tears. 

His first Avife was Sarah, daughter of Captain Elijah 
Dewey and Eunice Brush, and grand-daughter on her 
father's side of the Rev. Mr. Dewey. She was married to 
him at the age of seventeen b3^ the " Rev. David Avery, 
V. D. M.," June 27, 1782. 

Their first child, Sarah, born June 20, 1783 ; united with 
the church. May 4, 1817; died August, 1844, was the wife 
of Hon. Steplieu Robinson. 

Their second child, Betsey, born Februar}' 24, 1785 ; 



FAMILY OF DEA. A. nUISBELL. 281 

united with tlie church, September 4, 1831 ; died, September 
6, 1845 ; married Daniel McEowen, and, after his decease, 
Harm an. 

Their third child, Laura, born March 18, 1787, married 
Jolin Vanderspiegel, August 6, 1815 ; united with the 
church. Ma}' 2, 1863; died August 15, 1864, aged 77, 
deeply lamented by children and grandchildren, and much 
esteemed, b}' all her acquaintances and manj' friends, for 
her amiableness, sprightl}^ conversation, and kindness of 
heart. 

Their first son, and fourth child, was Elijah Dewey Hub- 
bell; born May 8, 1790 ; married to Laura, daughter of 
Hon. Truman Squier ; died February 3, 1864 ; of an 
amiable and social disposition and of unblemished integrity. 
He was honored for many years with the office of first 
selectman in the town, and with other important public 
trusts. 

He possessed a remarkably well-stored memory of dates, 
as well as facts and particulars of the early history of this 
town, and has been much consulted in such matters ; he 
had preserved many papers and documents of interest re- 
specting the early history of this town. 

He inherited a valuable farm from his grandfather, Cap- 
tain Elijah Dewe}', for whom he was named, and the family 
have in their possession a full-length portrait of Captain 
Dewey, said to be an excellent likeness. His daughter, 
Georgianna, married the Rev. Martin T. Sumner, a Baptist 
clergyman. 

The fifth child of Deacon Aaron Hubbell, Maria, born 
October 27, 1792; married to Isaac T. Robinson; united 
with the church, March 4, 1827, — ministry of the Rev. 
Daniel A. Clark, — died November 19, 1860. Sound in the 
faith, clear in her understanding of Christian truth, patient, 
cheerful, forgiving, faithful, she was a model woman in all 
24* 



282 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

the relations of life, and eminently so as a member of the 
church of God. Of her two children, one became a deacon 
of this church, and the other, Daniel Robinson, is a member 
and trustee of the Second Street Presbyterian Church, in 
Troy, New York. 

Deacon Hubbell married for his second wife Lucinda 
Moody. She was born in Woodbury, Conn., Jan. 15, 1770. 
She came here from Farmington, Conn., in 1797. She re- 
tained vivid recollectionsof seeing Gen. Washington when, 
as commander-in-chief of the American forces, he, on one 
occasion, passed through Farmington. She was married 
March 11, 1798. She was hopefull}^ converted in the revi- 
val in 1803, and united with this church at that time. 

She deceased in the home of her daughter Catherine, and 
son-in-law Richard Smith, Esq., in Sharon, Conn., Oct. 3, 
1864. She was at the time of her death in the ninety-fifth 
year of her age. She had bright eyes, a noble physique, and 
remarkable health and spirits, up to the last plying her knit- 
ting-needles, and keeping her information abreast of the 
times, particularly as to the affairs of the town, and to a 
great extent of the country at large. 

Ever hospitable to all who came under her roof, she 
kept a bed exclusivel}' for wayfarers who called for a night's 
lodging, however abject they might be, and personally at- 
tended to its being kept in ordeT. She lived to see a large 
circle of descendants, and manj'^ great-grandchildren, all 
of whom remember with affection and gratitude her effi- 
cient care to promote their happiness. 

Her first child, Harriet, Mrs. Daniel ConJding, perished 
in the wreck of the " Swallow," on the Hudson River, April 
7, 1845. Affectionate and beautiful tributes to her supe- 
rior worth appeared in the "New York Observer" and 
"Bennington Banner" of that day. She was, at the time 
of her decease, a member of the Presbyterian Church in 
Albany, N. Y. 



D. H CONKLING. 283 

D. HuGBELL CoNKLiNG, a son of Ml", and Mrs. Daniel 
Conkling, died in Paris, Feb. 17, 1868. He possessed a 
noble and generous nature, and great executive ability. 
He had amassed wealth as a member of the firm of H. B. 
Clafliu & Co., New York city, and gave with a liberal band 
to man}' a worthy cause. He had returned to Bennington 
to reside, where, as a public-spirited citizen, he was becom- 
ing more and more wideh' loved and valued. 

The intelligence of his death produced a profound sensa- 
tion of surprise and sorrow. He had united with the First 
church. 

Another daughter of Dea. Hubbell and Lucinda, his wife, 
Caroline, united with this church May 6, 1827, married the 
Rev. Hollis Read. They went as missionaries to India, 
and returned after some j-ears to this country' on account of 
her health. A son of theirs, Edward Read, is a minister of 
the gospel. 

The above-named Elijah Dewejj expressed in his last 
years a hope of salvation in Christ alone, but did not con- 
nect himself with the church ; all the other children of Dea. 
Hubbell became, or have become, members of some church. 

II. Joseph Robinson settled at Irish Corners in 1766. 
Of eight children, Dr. Ebenezer Eobinson, born 1783, still 
living and resident in the same place, is the onl}' survivor. 

Peter Robinson, grandfather to the above Joseph Robin- 
son, settled iu Martha's Vineyard, Mass. ; his son Joseph 
moved thence to Windham, Conn., where Joseph, the early 
settler in Bennington, was born. 

The name Joseph Robinson is on the roll of Capt. Elijah 
Dewey's company-, in Col. Moses Robinson's regiment of 
militia in the service of the United States, at Mount Inde- 
pendence, in 1776. 

The ancestors of Maiy Lucas, wife of Joseph Robinson, 



284 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

were emigrants from Coleraine in Ireland, and were of 
Scotch descent. They settled in Coleraine, Mass., and 
saw the troubles of the French war. She when a child 
lived seven j^ears in a fort. 

III. Robert Cochran, Robert, Jr., and Mary Cochran 
united with this church in 1 767. Robert Cochran owned the 
farm subsequentl}- in possession of P. ]M. Henry ; he sold it 
and removed westward, soon after the Revolutionary War. 
He is not the Robert Cochran famous in connection with 
the New York controversy. 

IV. David Haynes settled here at an early da}^, 1768, 
on the farm now the residence of Dea. John Vail. He died 
1776, and Ruth Paige, his wife, died 1796. Lydia, their 
daughter, was the wife of Hopestill Armstrong. Miriam, 
another daughter, married Dea. Hezekiah Armstrong. Abi- 
gail, another daughter, i^arried Jonathan Armstrong. (He 
was one of the two persons who captured the wounded Col. 
Pfister, — a " volunteer from the vicinity of Bennington, and 
into whose hands there fell, as the spoils of war, a portion 
of his baggage, among which was found his commission, on 
parchment, as ' Lieutenant in His Majesty's sixteenth, or 
Royal Regiment of Foot,' dated Sept. 18, 1760, and signed 
by Sir Jeffrey Amherst ; a set of draughting instruments, 
and a map of the route from St. John's, through Lakes 
Champlain and George, and along the Hudson, to New 
York. . . . These relics are in the possession of the 
Hon. L. B. Armstrong, of Dorset, a grandson of the soldier 
into whose hands they fell on the battle-field.") ^ Aaron, a 
son of the above David Hajnes, was a Baptist preacher, 
married Molly, sister of Jonathan Armstrong. 

David Haynes^ Jr., ^yas son of the above. Of his chil- 

1 Vi:rniont Hist. 31 ag. 



COLVIX — FILLMORE. 285 

dren, the only one living and remaining in town is Mrs. 
Teram^'-, widow of the late Alvah Rice, and mother of Ed- 
ward Rice. 

V. Reuben Colvin was an early settler in Bennington, 
his name being found on a petition to the Governor of New 
Hampshire in 1769. He was in Bennington battle, as ap- 
pears by Capt. Samuel Robinson's roll of those engaged in 
the action belonging to his company. His residence was 
near the place of the depot at the north village, where he 
died July 23, 1813, aged sixtj^-nine. He had three sons : 
David, M'ho died Sept. 10, 1852, aged eighty-five ; Thomas, 
who died Jul}^ 23, 1856, aged eight3'-five ; and Reuben, 
Jr. Mrs. Eliza, wife of William E. Hawks, is the only 
child of Daniel Colvin now remaining in town. Of the 
children of Thomas; Sidney, John V., and Reuben, all 
with families, are now residents in North Bennington. 
Charles S. Colvin, of East Bennington, is the only son of 
Reuben Colvin, Jr. Dea. John W. Vail is a grandson of 
Reuben Colvin, Sen., whose daughter, Freelove, was Dea. 
Vail's mother. 

VI. Nathaniel Fillmore united with this church in 
1773, — ministry of Rev. Mr. Dewey. He was a reputable 
citizen ; an ensign in Capt. Dewey's company in the battle 
of Bennington. His son Nathaniel, born April 19, 1771, 
father of President Fillmore, married here, and emigrated 
to Western New York about the j^ear 1798, residing in Au- 
rora, Erie Count3^ Another son of Nathaniel, Sen., Elijah 
Fillmore, Esq., was representative of the town in 1839 ; 
lived and died, much respected by his neighbors and fellow- 
citizens, in the west part of the town, in 1853, leaving a 
numerous famil}'^ of children. 



286 MEMoraALS of a century. 

VII. Simeon Hathaway, Jr., and Aune Hathaway 
united with this church during the pastorate of Rev. Mr. 
Dewey, May 3, 1776. The name of Simeon Hathaway, 
Sen., appears on a petition to the Governor of New Hamp- 
shire, dated October, 1769. Simeon Hathawaj- is also on 
the roll of Capt. Robinson's company in the Bennington 
battle as lieutenant. Levi Hathaway, Abram Hathaway, 
Alpheus Hathawa}', are also on the roll. There are nine- 
teen individuals of the name on our church-roll. 

VIII. Thomas Jewett's name is on the petition ^ of the 
Bennington settlers to the Governor of New Hampshire, 
dated October, 1769. He came here from Norwich, Conn. 
He was active in the Bennington battle, and took the sword 
and hat from Col. Baum. He was a lieutenant of Capt. 
Dewey's company. The sword was afterward purchased 
by David Robinson, and used by him as a captain of cav- 
alry, and subsequently as a field and general officer of the 
militia, and is still in the possession of his grandson, G. 
W. Robinson.2 Lieut. Jewett tore off the ornaments from 
the hat and wore it, as he had lost his own. It is now in 
the possession of descendants in Wej^bridge. Thomas 
Jewett first settled in a log house, south of East Benning- 
ton. He has numerous descendants. 

IX. Charles Cushman united with the church in 1784. 
A Charles Cushman was inn-keeper at an early day ; in 
1779, one of a committee, " as listers, to go round the town 
and take the lists of all who will pay their proportion of the 
above sum" (voted to supply the pulpit), " and to take the 
names of all those who refuse to give in the list." ^ John 
and Mrs. Cushman united with the church 1803. Charles 
and Anne united with the church 1817. 

li 2 Vermont Hist. Iilaff. 3 Town Records. 



ELEAZER HAWKS. 287 

X. Eleazer Hawks united with this church January 
29, 1786. He came here in 1774, from Deerfielcl, Mass., 
when a 3''0ung man, drawn hither b_y the circumstance that 
John Kinsle}^ had settled here, between whose daughter 
Rhoda and himself there was a tender attachment. He set- 
tled on land next to the Kinsley farm. 

Some particulars of his connection with the Bennington 
battle assist to more vivid impressions of the event. He 
felt it his dut}^ to remain near home as long as possible, on 
account of the illness of his wife ; and was pursuing his 
work in the field, when the noise of the firing, as the battle 
commenced, burst upon him over Whip-Stock Hill. He 
went for his musket, and proceeded with speed to join his 
neighbors and countr3'^men in the terrible encounter. He 
was not a member of either of the companies of militia. He 
was one of the volunteers, as were many others. One of 
his duties was to assist in conveying wounded from the 
battle-field into town, which he did on his father-in-law's 
ox-cart. Some died of their wounds on the way. The old 
meeting-house became packed full of prisoners, so full that 
fears were entertained lest it should break down. Some 
were let out in consequence, and some escaped. 

When Mr. Hawks returned to his home (a log hut with- 
out chimnej's and with but one room), it was empty. His 
wife, an invalid, had been conve^-ed, on a bed upon an ox- 
sled, by her father, for refuge, in case the result of the battle 
had been adverse to Pownal, to the town next south, whither 
man}^ of the feeble and helpless had been convej^ed for 
safet3^ Mrs. Hawks survived the fatigue and exposure of 
her flight but a short time. 

The second wife of Eleazer Hawks, and mother of Capt. 
Ira Hawks, was Anna (united with the church 1803), 
daughter of Daniel Clark, of Shaftsbury, who was in the 
battle and wounded, and who died of his wounds soon after. 



288 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

William E. Hawks, au officer in the Baptist church of North 
Bennington, is a grandson of Eleazer Hawks. A grand- 
daughter, daughter of Capt. Ira Hawks, married the Rev. 
Mr. Palmer, deceased, pastor of the Baptist church at 
Hoosic Corners. 




CHAPTER XX. 

PEESONAL NOTICES. 
1775-1776. 

)EACON Joseph Bingham, with Jeremiah, the elder 
of his sons, united with this church May 3, 1776. 
They left Norwich, Conn., about the time of the 
first settlement of Bennington, though they did 
not come here until a short time before the com- 
mencement of the American Revolution. On their 
removal from Norwich, they first settled in Charlemont, 
Mass., and came to Bennington from that place. "Whether 
this was a family of Separates does not certainly appear. 
It is, however, quite probable, as they left Norwich, or its 
vicinit)'', about the time that a Separate chm'ch (that of 
Newint), or portions of it, left the same vicinity to remove 
to Bennington. In the records of the Newint Separate 
church, at the installation of Joseph Safford as deacon 
there, one Deacon Samuel Bingham was present from an- 
other Separate church, as delegate, and took part in the 
proceedings. 

Deacon Joseph Bingham ^ was a lieutenant in a com- 
pany of Provincials during the French war. At one time, 
when stationed with his men near Ticonderoga, his men 
were ordered to perform some fatigue duty. While en- 
gaged in this, one of them was taken sick. Lieut. Bingham 

1 The following notice of the Bingham family is chiefly condensed from an arti- 
cle in the " Bennington Banner " of December 28, 1855. 
25 



290 MEMOniALS OF A CENTURY. 

told him to quit work and lie down. Presently an English 
officer, accustomed to bear himself in a haughty manner 
toward the Provincials, began to cane the sick man be- 
cause he was not at work. Lieut. Bingham saw this out- 
rage and dared to interfere. He ordered the haughty 
English officer to desist, which the said officer thought it 
best to do, for Lieut. Bingham was a man of courage and of 
extraordinary muscular power, and he deemed he had the 
right to the control of his own men in such a case. 

At the time of the Bennington battle, Deacon Bingham 
had been made lame b}^ having one hip broken, but was 
able to walk with the help of a cane ; it was not, therefore, 
expected that he would go into the battle-field. He went, 
with many others who were aged and infirm, to the meeting- 
house, or its vicinity, and while they were collected there, 
and while the battle was raging, he proposed that they 
should lift up their voices and their hearts in fervent praji-er 
to the God of battles, that he would bless their sons, broth- 
ers, and friends who were in the battle fighting for their 
homes and for liberty ; and that he would permit them to 
return again and peacefully enjoy their homes. The prayer 
was heard ; at least, the blessings it supplicated were 
granted. The old man was allowed to return to his home 
and find it undisturbed. 

Epitaph of Deacon Joseph Bingham : — 

" 'Tempus verax mortalium.' 

" Sacred to the memory of Deac. Joseph Bingham, who 
departed this life Nov. 4, 1787, in the 79th year of his age. 
He left the church militant to join the church triumphant 
above. 

" ' Why do we mourn departed friends ? ' " 

At the close of the war Jeremiah removed to Cornwall, 
in this State, where he trained a family of sous and daugh- 



DEA. CALVIN BINGHAM. 291 

ters, and was loved and honored by liis fellow-citizens to 
the end of his daj's for his piety and manly virtues. He 
lived to be almost a hundred years old. 

Deacon Calvin Bingham, the j^ounger sou, remained on 
the farm with his father and mother while they lived, and, 
after their decease, lived and died there. He united with 
this church, and also brought forward his six children for 
baptism April 19, 1789, during the ministry of Mr. Swift. 
He was elected deacon in this church Jul}^ 16, 1813, and 
continued in the office until he died, Februar}' 23, 1831, aged 
eighty. His regularity and punctuality in attending public 
worship were proverbial. He was highly honored for his 
fidelity as a Christian and an officer in the church, and in 
all the duties of life. 

He had seven sous and five daughters, who lived to the 
age of maturity, and all became members of the church of 
Christ. On Thanksgiving day, Dec. 6, 1855, the seven 
sons and three of the daughters were still living, and 
all met together in their native town ; the united ages of the 
brothers amounted to four hundred and eight3'-four years ; 
average age sixty-nine years. 

Asa, the first born, has been many years an officer in the 
church where he resides ; Stephen, the sixth, a deacon 
in the Second Congregational Church in this town. Two 
became ministers of the gospel, — Amos, the second son (for 
many years cit}^ missionary in Philadelphia), and Hiram 
the fifth ; he was with his associate honored as a pioneer 
missionary to the Sandwich Islands, 1819, where he labored 
for about twenty years, and saw the wonderful Christian 
transformations among that people. He is the author of a 
history of the Islands. He found it necessar^^ to return to 
bis native land on account of the illness of his wife. A son 
of his, Hiram Bingham, Jr., is now a missionary among 



292 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

the Mici'onesian Islands ; also two daughters have gone to 
teach native girls at Honolulu. 

A son of Calvin, the third of the brothers, has been Gov- 
ernor of Michigan, and senator in Congress. 

Rev. Amos Bingham was graduated at Middlebury Col- 
lege. He studied theology with the Rev. Dr. Burton, of 
Thetford. He soon became a domestic missionary, some- 
times in the employment of some ecclesiastical body, and 
sometimes not. He was instrumental in the hopeful con- 
version of many souls. He preached in Peru, Winhall, 
an^ other places. He was so zealous as to be sometimes 
persecuted by those whom he had offended in his faithful- 
ness. One who was converted under his ministry in "Win- 
hall removed to Virginia and married, and came into the 
possession of slaves. This man invited Mr. Bingham to 
enjoy his hospitality. Mr. Bingham was so much the 
lover of liberty, and spoke out so freely, that he was 
admonished to leave for his own safety. Pie went thence to 
Philadelphia, and remained and died there. He was 
employed by the city authorities to preach to the prisoners 
in the penitentiary. The prison is made into cells, arranged 
like the spokes of a wheel. The preacher stands, as it were, 
in the hub of the wheel, and preaches, not seeing into the 
cells. Mr. Bingham was very much engaged also in labors 
to promote the better observance of the Sabbath in Phila- 
delphia. 

n. Nathaniel Brush was here as early as 1775. 
He lived in the Judge Isham House. His sister was 
the first Mrs. Capt. Isaac Dewey. He was colonel of 
militia in the town, and in this capacity served in the Ben- 
nington battle. He was elected town clerk iu 1782, in 
which office he continued for several years. 



SAMUEL BLACKMER. 293 

III. Samuel Blackmer moved here at an early clay from 
Taunton, Mass. His name appears upon the town records 
as sealer of weights and measures, appointed March, 1776. 
He died in 1812, aged about sixty-four. His widow lived 
to be ninety-three. Their children were Samuel, Jason, 
Jesse, Ruby, — Mrs. Oliver Harwood, of Rupert, — Wilbur, 
Green, and Vesta, — Mrs. Joseph Harwood, of Rupert. 

Hon. S. H. Blackmer, was son of Samuel, Jr. He de- 
ceased in Feb., 1861. He was for many 3'ears clerk of the 
court and judge of probate, and was highly respected. He 
gathered with much pains a rare collection of old volumes, 
now in the possession of his son, Frank Blackmer. One 
book contains a printed copy of th'e first sermon ever 
preached in New England, which was at Plymouth in 1621. 

Hiram Blackmer was a son of Samuel, Jr. He was in 
mercantile business in Boston, Mass., and deceased there 
Aug. 2, 1860. He united with this church Sept. 4, 1831, 
and adorned his Christian profession by a consistent walk 
and conversation. 

Jason, son of Samuel, Sen., was the father of Warren 
Blackmer. 

IV. Mrs. Isabella Henry united with this church May 
5, 1811 ; was the first of the Henrys, b}^ the records. She 
was daughter of Mrs. Susannah Howe, afterward second 
wife of Governor Moses Robinson. She deceased Dec. 28, 
1857. The writer of this notice had the pleasure of know- 
ing her, and enjoying frequently her kind and graceful hos- 
pitality during the last few years of her life. She was a 
lady of superior personal presence, and of marked polite- 
ness, as well as of excellent Christian spirit. 

David Henry, husband of the above, united with this 
church Sept. 4, 1831, and deceased Jan. 26, 1856 ; of few 
woi'ds, but of sound judgment, and great kindness. 
25* 



294 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

Their only daughter, Mary Ann^ united with tliis church 
March 4, 1827 ; their only son, P. M. Henry, united with 
this church Sept. 4, 1831. 

James Henry united with this church Nov. 6, 1831 ; his 
wife, Celinda Harmon, in 1803. She was eminent for the 
purity of her Christian character, for her liberal support of 
the church, of which she was a member, and for large bene- 
factions to charitable and missionary institutions. Her 
daughter, Persis F., Mrs. Alonzo Hinsdill, united with this 
church Sept. 4, 1331 ; Celinda, Mrs. Caleb Austin, died 
Sept., 1844 ; united with this church Jan. 5, 1834. 

John, sou of John- Henry, united with this church Sept. 
4, 1831 ; at the same time William G., son of Hon. Wil- 
liam Henry. 

The second among the Henrys to unite with this church 
was Alice, daughter of Hon. William Henry ; united with 
the church Nov. 5, 1820. Her mother, ^)ina ^enr?/, united 
with the church Sept. 4, 1831. Eight of the name of 
Henry, and one besides of the family, Maria, wife of James 
Hicks, united with the church at this date. Of the chil- 
dren of Hon. William Henry, four became members of this 
church ; among them also Lemira, wife of Hon. Charles 
Hicks. She was one of those in whose blameless life and 
beautiful spirit the Christian virtues shine without alloy. 
A son, Eli B., is deacon in the North Bennington Congre- 
gational Church. Alicia, a daughter-in-law of John Henry, 
now Mrs. David Cross, united with this church Sept. 4, 1831. 

Hon. William Henry (born Oct. 5, 1760, died May 11, 
1845) represented the town in the General Assembly for 
seven successive years from 1805, and was a justice of the 
peace for thirt3'-nine years in succession, ending with the 
3'ear 1840, being a longer period than the office has ever 
been held by any other person in town. He was also judge 



I 



DEA. STEPHEX HINSDILL. 295 

of probate for two years, and, being familiar with legal 
forms of business, was the clranghtsmau of most of the 
deeds, contracts, and wills of persons in his quarter of the 
town for many years. He was a man of sound judgment 
and of undoubted integrity, and was universally respected. 
Hon. William, James, John, and David Henry were sous 
of William, one of several families of Scotch-Irish descent 
who came from Massachusetts and settled at an early day 
in the north-west part of the town ; from whom the neighbor- 
hood took the name of Irish Corners, which it still retains.^ 
There -are twenty individuals of the name on the church-roll. 

V. Joseph Hinsdill was the first of the famil}^ to settle 
in Bennington, and came, it is believed, from Hardwick, 
Mass. He married Hannah Bingham. Their children 
were Norman, married Rhoda Harmon, sister of Mrs. Samuel 
Scott, and for his second wife a daughter of Gov. Galusha ; 
Daniel, father of Milo and Alonzo Hinsdill ; Joseph, 
iather of Joseph, married Fanny Walbridge ; Eliza married 
Elijah Waters ; Amanda married R. N. Severance ; Caroline, 
Mrs. Samuel Weeks ; Joanna, Mrs. Stephen Robinson ; 
Jane, Mrs. G. W. Robinson ; Chester ; Hannah married Mr. 
Trac}^ ; Stephen, Deacon Hinsdill, father of Mrs. Ballard, 
Lucretia, Mrs. Aaron Hubbell, Jennett, Mrs. Sej'mour ; 
Electa married Jonas Galusha ; Hiram married Roxauna 
Walbridge. 

Deacon Stephen Hinsdill, with his wife Hannah, a 
sister of Uriah Edgerton, Esq., united with the church during 
the ministry of Mr. Marsh, May, 1816. He was elected 
deacon May 10, 1822, and removed his connection, with 
others, Nov. 9, ISSi, to organize the Hinsdill ville Presby- 
terian Church. He was the head of a manufacturing com- 
pany in that place, and really almost the company itself, 

1 Vermont Hist. Mag. 



296 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

"which for a time was very flourishing, eraploj'ing many 
operatives and sustaining numerous families. He possessed 
extraordinary enterprise and zeal in whatever he undertook. 
He was much gifted in praj^er and exhortation, and much 
devoted to the cause of Christ. He was very strict in his 
observance of the Sabbath, and unbounded in his hospi- 
tality. Before the establishment of public worship in 
Hinsdillville, he chartered a four-horse team to bring up 
his neighbors and others to worship here. He prepared a 
room and seated it, in one of his buildings, for religious 
meetings, and was chiefly instrumental in the erection of 
the Hinsdillville church, — a very commodious stone edifice. 
The Rev. Daniel A. Clark was his warm friend, and he was 
a warm friend of Mr. Clark, who, during his ministry in 
Bennington, was frequently an inmate of his house. He 
gave his energies with great ardor to the prosecution of 
the revival which took place in that part of the town in con- 
nection with Mr. Clark's labors. 

An extended notice of him would properly find a place 
in a more particular historj^ of the church for the period 
during Mr. Clark's ministry here, and down to 1834, when 
the Hinsdillville Presb^^terian Church was organized. 

He eventually removed to Michigan and died there. He 
was one of the committee upon the last revision of the 
articles of faith and covenant of this church. One of his 
daughters married James Ballard, minister of the gospel. 
There are sixteen ')f the name of Hinsdill on the roll of the 
church. 

VI. Eleazer Edoerton was here prior to 1775. As 
before mentioned, he was one of the scouts in the emploj''- 
ment of the Council of Safety, who brought intelligence to 
Gen. Stark of the presence of a hostile party at Cambridge, 
on the 18th of August, three days before the battle ; and au 



JOHN^ KINSLEY — CAPT. MOSES SAGE. 297 

an anecdote is related illustrative of his prowess in the 
battle. 

He was the father of Uriah Edgerton, Esq., and resided 
a half a mile or so to the north of the late residence of the 
latter. His wife was a daughter of the Mr. Hyde whose 
family resided upon tlie place now owned and occupied by 
Giles Jewett. She was a relation of Chancellor Walworth. 
Mrs. Stephen Hinsdill was his daughter. 

Uriah Edgerton, Esq., son of the above, deceased April 
28, 1868, aged eighty-seven, having adorned old age, and 
made it attractive by his Christian conversation and his 
genial spirit, and having enjoyed the affectionate esteem 
of his numerous acquaintances and friends. He also uni- 
ted with the Bennington First Church, Sept. 4, 1831. He 
married a daughter of Dr. Jonas Fay. 
• 

VII. John Kinsley united with this church in 1773. 
There are seven individuals of the name of Kinsley, or 
Kingsley, on the church-roll. Nathaniel Kingsley united 
with the church 1784. There is a Nathaniel Kingsley on" 
the Newint church records. Daniel Kingsley united with the 
church 1775. Eunice Kingsley united with the church 1780. 
Mrs. Nathaniel Kingsley united with the church 1784. 

Abisha Kinsley, son of John Kinsley, a highly respected 
and worthy citizen of the west part of the town, de- 
ceased Aug. 9, 1859, born in Charlemont, Mass., March 
18, 1766 ; removed to Bennington when four years of age. 

VIII, Capt. Moses Sage settled in Bennington as early 
as 1776 ; and, until 1805, was the most prominent busi- 
ness man at the north village, which bore the name of 
Sage's City, until the establishment of a post-office there, 
in 1828, M^hen it was called North Bennington. " To his 



298 31 E MO RIALS OF A CENTURY. 

enterprise and energy of character it owes not only its first 
distinctive name, but its early growth and business. 

" His business operations were not, however, confined to 
that village. For several years he had been either the sole 
or part owner of the blast furnace situated on what is still 
called Furnace Brook, two miles north of Bennington vil- 
lage, and in 1804 he erected what was then called the new 
furnace east of that village. This, in 1811, was sold to 
Thomas Trenor, and in 1814 Mr. Sage removed to Cha- 
tauque Co., N. Y., and died in 1817." 

Capt. Sage had a number of children, several of whom 
removed from town in early life. Mrs. Fanny Coney, his 
youngest daughter, is still living in Bennington village 
with her son-in-law, Charles S. Colvin. Mrs. Mary Anne, 
wife of Martin B. Scott, of North Bennington, is a grand- 
daughter of Capt. Sage. Olin and Henry M. Scott, of 
Bennington village, are children of Mr. and Mrs. M. B. 
Scott. 

IX. Simeon Sears appears on the tables prepared by 
Mrs. Haswell as having united with the church in the min- 
istry of Rev. Mr. Dewey. His name is on the roll of Capt. 
Robinson's company in the Bennington battle. The name 
of Sears appears in the tables of Mr. Paige's Ilardwick 
Centennial Address. He was one of the active opponents 
of the Rev. Mr. Avery. There are eleven individuals of 
the name on the roll of the church. 




CHAPTER XXI. 

PERSONAL NOTICES. 
1777-1784. 

)OVERNOR Isaac Tichenor was born at Newark, 
N. J., Feb. 8, 1754, and educated at Princeton 
College, then under the presidency of the cele- 
brated Rev. Dr. Witherspoon, for whom and whose 
memory he always had the highest veneration. 
He first came to Bennington June 14, 1777. Dur- 
ing the war of the Revolution he was deputy commissary- 
general of purchases for the Northern Department, having 
for his field of service an extensive portion of the New 
England States. After the war he was representative in the 
General Assembly ; speaker of the House ; agent of the State 
at Congress ; member of the State Council ; a judge, and 
then chief justice of the Supreme Court ; member of the 
Council of Censors ; thrice elected senator in Congress ; 
governor of the State for eleven years in all ; and called 
also to fill other offices of high distinction and responsi- 
bility.! 

He gave his influence with great cheerfulness and liber- 
ality to the interests of public religion in this town. He 
bore a prominent part in the controversy about the Rev. 
Mr. Averj^, and was his fast friend. His signature ap- 
pears alone, on behalf of the congregation, to the addi-ess 
of that body, expressive of their regrets upon Mr. Avery's 

1 Vermont Hist. Mas. 



300 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

dismissal. He took a warm interest in tlie settlement of 
the Rev. Absalom Peters. He bad promised the parish, if 
they would get a minister who should fill the meeting- 
house, he would give them a bell. Mr. Peters was very 
popular and attractive, and Gov. Ticheuor was as good as 
his word. The bell, which has been in the belfry ever 
since, has his name inscribed on it as its donor. 

He used to marry people, but, not being a professor of 
religion, and never having assumed the Christian duty of 
personally leading others in devotions, he performed his 
marriage ceremony, likewise, without making any prayer. 
Deacon Bingham, on one occasion, remonstrated with him 
against his practice of solemnizing marriage without 
praj'Cr ; the governor replied, '' Well, you come and make 
the i^rayer, and I will give you half of the fee." 

Many anecdotes are related of him, illustrative of a 
certain painstaking on his part to kindly and cordially 
notice all. His manners and address were both impressive 
and very pleasing. William E. Hawks, whose home was 
on the second farm west of Aaron Hubbell's, relates that, 
when a boy. Gov. Tichenor used frequently to come that 
way hunting ; he was accustomed to shoot game from his 
horse's back, and would ask William to go with him and 
pick up the game. A quarter of a dollar placed in his 
hand seemed to him, in those childhood days, a munificent 
compensation, — and very liberal it was. He thought, as 
did many other boys in the town and in the State, that he 
was a special favorite of Gov. Tichenor, and was ever de- 
lighted to see him come that way with his gun and his 
horse. 

Gov. Tichenor was once sitting at his table, in the din- 
ing-room, which opened out into the yard in the rear of the 
house, and his attention was called to a bird, on one of 
the trees in sight. A friend was at table with him ; and he 



GOVERXOR TICnEXOR. 301 

said, " I can shoot that bird without leaving my seat." 
The friend doubted whether the thing could be done ; the 
governor. sent for his gun, which was levelled and fired, and 
the bird fell dead. He had tried hard, one day, to catch a 
large trout in the Meach hole, and was obliged to come 
away unsuccessful ; a lad he employed to do chores, etc., 
was with him, and slyly went down the next morning to 
try his luck, and was successful. As he came up toward 
the governor's with the fish, Gov. Tichenor, quite excited, 
said, " It is too bad to raise up eagles to pick our eyes 
out." 

When at Washington, at the presidential dinners, Mrs. 
Madison had been led out to dinner repeatedly and rather 
ostentatiously by a not very popular senator ; and certain 
of the others, who were piqued at that gentleman's pre- 
cedence, agreed together to supersede him, and committed 
the execution of the task to Gov. Tichenor. The obnox- 
ious gentleman, on the next dinner occasion, engaged Mrs. 
Madison, as before, in conversation, about the tira? of din- 
ner ; and those who were in the secret were quite impa- 
tient at the unpromising aspect of affairs. But a moment 
onh' before the announcement of dinner Gov. Tichenor 
directly accosted Mrs. Madison ; she arose to reply, he 
added a word or two, and she politely listened ; when the 
call to dinner came, he immediately offered her his arm, 
an(^the obnoxious Congressman was outwitted. 

Governor Tichenor possessed a commanding form, a re- 
markably fine personal appearance, and accomplished man- 
ners. He was regular in his attendance at church ; occupied 
a seat in the large corner pew, Avhich took up the space on 
the south side of the pulpit ; arose and stood reverently, 
and yet with peculiar dignity, in prayers ; gracefully recog- 
nized such persons as he met going and returning, — was, 
indeed, quite a feature of the occasion. 
26 



302 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

He left no children. The present residence of Deacon 
George Lyman was his, and bears the name of Tichenor 
place. He died Dec. 11, 1838, aged eighty -four. At the 
time of his decease the ReV. Dr. Hooker was his pastor, 
and preached his funeral sermon. 

The second Mrs. George Lyman was his adopted daugh- 
ter. She united with this church May 7, 1843, and deceased 
Jan. 4, 1856 ; a lady of superior excellence, thoughtful, 
earnest, and conscientious, dignifying the social circle. Her 
sudden death was felt to be a severe bereavement in the 
household, the church, and the community. Her four chil- 
dren are members, and her three sons-in-law officers of 
churches. 

n. Thomas Hall came to Bennington in the spring of 
1779, and settled on the farm which has remained in the 
family, now the residence of the son-in-law of Governor Hall, 
Hon. T. W. Park. Mr. Hall was born at Guilford, Conn., 
Feb. 11, 1726, married Phebe Blachly, removed to Wood- 
bury, Eoxbury Parish, Conn., 1759, and thence to Ben- 
nington. He united with the Bennington First Church in 
1785. He died Dec. 23, 1802. 

Nathaniel Hall, his son, was deacon of the old Baptist 
church in Shaftsbury, born March 4, 1763, died March 4, 
1849, spoken of to the writer as " an Israelite indeed, in 
whom was no guile." His children were Hiland (Gov- 
ernor Hall), born July 20, 1795 ; Phebe, born March 24, 
1797, married James Lazell, died May 27, 1860 ; Abigail, 
born March 13, 1799, married Nathan Bow en ; Nathaniel, 
born March 11, 1801, died Aug. 19, 1846 ; Anna, born Jan. 
31, 1804, married Daniel C. Dyer; Laura, born April 5, 
1806, married Timotliy Darling, died Nov. 25, 1854 ; Polly, 
born Sept. 22, 1808, married Sidnc}' Colvin. The father of 
Mrs. Governor Hall, Henry Davis, was in the battle of 



THOMAS HALL. 303 

Bunker Hill, and served at West Point and other places 
during the Revolutionary War. 

The ancestors of Thomas Hall were his father, Hiland 
Hall, born in Guilford, Conn., Sept. 20, 1703 ; his grand- 
father. Deacon Thomas Hall, born in Middletown, Conn., 
Aug. 29, 1671 ; his great-grandfather, Samuel Hall, born in 
England, 1626 ; and his great-great-grandfather, John Hall, 
born in Kent County, England, in 1584. 

in. Akthont Haswell was born at Portsmouth, Eng- 
land, April 6, 1756. He came to Boston when about 
thirteen j^ears of age, and served his apprenticeship as a 
printer. He established the "Vermont Gazette " in Ben- 
nington. The first number Mas published June 5, 1783, 
and was continued, — not always, however, under the same 
name, — most of the time hy himself or members of his 
famil}^, until October, 1850, a period of over sixty-seven 
years. It had a much longer life than any other paper 
printed in the State. His enterprise led him to originate 
several periodicals, — arnong them, a paper in Rutland, also 
two monthlies, at different times, in Bennington. Numer- 
ous books and pamphlets were published by him on various 
subjects, some of which were reprints of valuable works, 
and others original matter. In the course of his life he 
furnished many articles for the newspaper press on moral, 
religious, and political subjects. For the most part he set 
up his original matter into type, when he composed it, with- 
out the intervention of the pen. He had for many j^ears a 
share of the public printing of the State. Among his pub- 
lications maj' be mentioned an interesting memoir of Capt. 
Matthew Phelps, of three hundred pages, of which Mr. Has- 
w^ell was the author. When the Legislature passed the act 
establishing post-offices at Bennington and other places, 
1784, he was appointed postmaster-general, with extensive 



304 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

powers. He early imbibed the principles of the old Repub- 
lican part}' , and was active and zealous in their defence and 
propagation. 

Mr. Haswell was a kind and obliging neighbor, and a 
warm, ardent, and faithful friend.^ He became possessed 
of the old meeting-house, after it ceased to be used for pub- 
lic religious worship, and had it removed and re-erected for 
his own residence, where now stands the residence of Hon. 
Benjamin R. Sears. His wife and others wished him to 
divide the frame, but he preferred to have it all. He de- 
sired a large house and a large table, and desired it full. 
He did not enrich himself, but he did much good. He was 
a man of extraordinar}^ industry, and his labors for the 
public, through a whole life, were devoted with singular 
unselfishness. 

In the revival in 1803 his zeal in politics abated, being 
overborne by a new consecration — to Christ. At that time 
he united with this church b}- a public profession of faith. 

An anecdote will illustrate the high estimation of him, in 
connection with his zeal as a Christian convert, entertained 
by one of his neighbors, and an unconverted man. Mr. 
Nairne, a profane man, a Scotchman, but characterized by 
a certain heartiness and naivete which is alwaj's attractive, 
resided then in the house now the residence of Henrj'^ 
Patchin. Mr. Nairne had the Rev. Mr. Spaulding and 
others at his house during the three-da3's' meeting, and 
with them, also, Mr. Haswell. Mr. Nairne whispered to 
his wife, " Let us have a pra3'fir ; I'll call on Anthony Has- 
well." Mrs. Nairne, an excellent and lad3--like woman 
(who united with the church in that revival), said to her 
husband, " Had 3'ou not better call on one of the minis- 
ters?" Mr. Nairne, with his Scotch bluntuess, spoke out 

1 For these particulars, and others of his professional and public career, see 
Vermont Hist. Mag., p. 170. 



ANTHONY HASWELL. 305 

SO all could hear, using a profane expression which need 
not be repeated, " I would as soon have Mr. Hosioell." 

He not only required the Bible to be read at family- 
prayers, but also had Watts' psalms and hymns read 
through at that exercise. He gave to his two daugh- 
ters, Susannah and Eliza, each a copj^ of '^ Watts' Divine 
and Moral Songs for Children," as a reward for commit- 
ting the songs to memory. He published many religious 
works, sermons, and collections of religious verses. A 
great variety of these publications are still extant, bearing 
his imprint. 

Before any missionaries had been sent from this country 
into heathen lands he conceived a strong desire, and often 
expressed it, to have a son who should be qualified and 
willing to go and preach Christ to heathen nations. This 
desire was fulfilled in the person of his sou James M., born 
subsequently to the time of Mr. Haswell's oft repeating 
this desire. His two sons, Thomas and James, the one 
born Sept. 26, 1807, the other Feb. 4, 1810, were clerks in 
the store of Messrs. Fassett & Selden, in Troy, N. Y., 
about the year 1830 ; and, during a revival in that cit}', 
were hopefully converted, and both resolved to fit them- 
selves for the ministry. They alternately attended the 
Presbyterian and Baptist meetings for some months ; both 
invariably attending the same meeting, until one Sabbath 
James said to Thomas, " Brother, I must be a Baptist and 
go to the heathen." Thomas replied, " Well, I will be a 
Presbyterian ; we will both go into the field and see which 
can do the most good in the cause of our Lord and Master." 
Thomas became a minister of the gospel and home mission- 
ary, in which service he died. James went to Burmah as 
foreign missionar}', translated the New Testament into a 
Burmese dialect, and, after some thirty-three years' labor 
in that country, has been compelled to retire by the failure 
26* 



306 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

of his health. James, a son, was sent to this country and 
graduated at college, and returned a preacher of the gospel 
to labor in Burmah, but was overtaken by failure of his 
health. Julia Ann Eliza became the wife of a missionary, 
and is still in Burmah. Another daughter, not married, is 
also doing efficient missionary service there. 

Eliza, daughter of Anthony Haswell, married Hiram Hai'- 
wood. James II. Harwood, minister of the gospel, is their 
son. 

Susannah, another daughter, married Darius Clark. Their 
daughter Lydia drew the old meeting-house in the frontis- 
piece in this volume — said to be a truthful representation 
of that sanctuary — from dimensions, shape, and position 
preserved in the recollection of old inhabitants. 

William Haswell, seventh child of Anthony Haswell, 
was elected clerk of this church September 28, 1849, and 
remained so until his decease, December 16, 1864. He was 
much assisted in his labors as town clerk, and in other 
offices requiring a large amount of writing, by his wife, 
Sarah, daughter of Col. Samuel Robinson, born October 
8, 1791 ; united with this church January 6, 1833 ; died 
December 14, 1850. 

The following obituary notice of him is from the " Ben- 
nington Banner : " — 

" William Haswell was appointed postmaster of this 
town June 6, 1813, and held the office until November, 
A. D. 1833, twenty years and over. He was also town 
clerk of Bennington from March, A. D. 1821, to March, 
1849. 

"He was register of the probate court under judges Ar- 
temas Mattison, Aaron Robinson, Jesse Blackmer, Jona- 
than Draper, Sylvanus Danforth, Orsamus C. Merrill, John 
M. Olin, — in all twenty-one j'ears, commencing in 1826. 



WILLIAM HASWELL. 307 

" For several years after 1820 the list of Revolutionary 
and invalid pensioners in Bennington count}'' was very 
large, — the aggregate sums paid to them each year amount- 
ing to many thousands of dollars. These pensions were 
nearly all drawn and distributed by William Haswell, 
and he continued a pension agent until the time of his 
death. He was proverbially rapid and accurate in adjust- 
ing accounts and transacting public business. 

" He was a kind-hearted neighbor ; a public-spirited, up- 
right citizen ; a friend and benefactor to the poor, and an 
honest man. Thus he lived to exemplify the doctrines of 
the gospel, which, for many years, he professed to love. 

" In his death one of the old landmarks of Bennington 
has passed away. He died December 16, 18G4, in the 
seventy-fifth year of his age." 

A large number of the descendants of Anthony Haswell 
have become members of this or of some other church. 

His son, Anthony Haswell, born November, 1780, died 
December 10, 1856 ; an intelligent man and exemplary 
Christian, genial and social ; united with this church March 
1803, and afterward removed his connection to the Baptist' 
church. 

Anthony Haswell, Sen., composed many hymns. Some 
stanzas from one, sung at the funeral of Mrs. Samuel Rob- 
inson, Sen., have been inserted in the notice of that lady. 
He also, it is said, composed one or two of the hymns sung at 
the dedication of the new meeting-house. One of the hymns 
sung on that occasion was, it is said, composed by Andrew 
Selden, Esq., and one by a gentleman from abroad. Four 
hymns are printed with the dedication sermon, but there 
appears to be no means of certainly identifying the authors 
severally. 

He died May 26, 1816. 



308 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

IV. Thomas Weeks and Catharine, his wife, removed 
to Bennington, from Hardwick, Mass., in 1783, and settled 
on tlie farm which has ever since borne the name of the 
"Weeks farm. He died August, 1804, aged eighty-four; 
and Mrs. Weeks, October 14, 1819, aged ninetj^-seveu. 

The names David, Holland, and Thomas Weeks are on 
the list in Paige's Centennial Address of the Hardwick in- 
habitants who served in the French war. 

David Weeks, son of the above, came with his father. 
He died October 4, 1836, aged eighty-three. Elizabeth, his 
wife, died April 2, 1822, aged fifty-six. Beside two that 
died in infancy, their children were Abigail, Betsey, Susan, 
David, Isaac, Samuel, Semantha, Willard, Maria. All 
have deceased except the eldest, Abigail. Willard died 
August 17, 1860 ; Betsey, Susan, and David in 1861, — the 
four within eight months of each other. 

Samuel Weeks died January 1, 1867, aged sixtj^-six ; 
united with the church July 4, 1858 ; father of Mrs. 
Rev. Henry M. Swift. Called in the latter daj's of life to 
meet severe trials of bodily sickness and unexpected re- 
Verses of worldly fortune, these he bore with exemplaiy 
Christian meekness and fortitude. 

Isaac Weeks united with the church January 5, 1862 ; 
died January 24, 1868, in the seventy-second year of his 
age. He was representative in the General Assembly in 
1860 ; at different times and for several years first select- 
man and town treasurer, and held other important offices 
in the town. He was also, for many years, president of 
the Stark Bank. He possessed great kindness of heart, 
soundness of judgment, and fidelity to everj'^ trust, and was 
one of our most valuable citizens, and died enjoying, in an 
eminent degree, the respect and confidence of his acquaint- 
ances and friends and of the community. 



COL. MARTIN NORTON. 309 

V. IcHABOD Paddock came from Rhode Island, and 
settled, soon after the Revolutionary War, on the farm since 
the residence of Alonzo Potter. He had three sons, Dan- 
iel, Zechariah, and Thomas. Daniel was the father of Capt. 
Paddock, now residing in Pleasant Valley. Zechariah was 
the father of Daniel H. Paddock. 

VI. William Potter came, about the time of the close 
of the Revolutionary War, from Rhode Island, and set- 
tled on Mount Anthony, on the farm east of the present 
residence of his grandson. Loan Potter. Three brothers 
came together, or nearly so. The two others were John 
and Amos ; these settled a little over the New York State 
line. 

VII. CoL. Martin Norton and his wife, Betsey, united 
with the church in November, 1784. They resided where S. 
H. Brown, Jr., now resides. Mrs. Col. Norton was a devoted 
Christian. Their son, Hon. Jesse O. Norton, late member 
of Congress and judge of the Supreme Court in Illinois, 
united with this church at thirteen ji-ears of age. Their 
grand-daughter, Sophia Love, became the wife of the Rev. 
S. II. Ilurlbut, late pastor of the Congregational Church 
in New Haven. He died December 2, 1856, having 
been much prospered in his ministry, warmly beloved by 
his people, and giving bright promise of continued useful- 
ness and success. 

There are eleven of the name of Norton on the roll of 
the church. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

PERSONAL NOTICES. 

1785-1800. 

^^=j^R. ISToADiAH Swift was the second son and fourth 
^jJaP child of Rev. Job Swift, D.D., and Mary Ann Sedg- 
wick. He was born in Dutchess County, N. Y., at 
a place then called Nine Partners, now known as 
Amenia, Feb. 24, 1776. He, with his father and 
the family, removed to Manchester, and thence to 
Bennington, when he was nine years of age. Here he re- 
ceived his academical education under his father's instruc- 
tion, and pursued the study of medicine with Dr. Medad 
Parsons, at that time a practising physician. He continued 
in the practice of his profession here until prevented by 
the infirmities of age. He was possessed of a large and 
powerful frame, an iron constitution, and an iron will. 
Sound in intellect, and with a highly intuitive judgment, he 
was at once a master of books and of common sense. Plain- 
spoken and outspoken, of great frankness and simplicity 
of character, far-reaching in his perceptions of the public 
principles and measures which the progress of the future 
was to sustain, severe to his enemies in controversy, re- 
lentless to opposition, but confessing his faults and for- 
giving the faults of others in the subsequent reaction of 
tenderness and good-will, — he was a tower of strength to 
the church, the community, and the reforms of the da}'. No 
biography could do justice to him, unless it were a history 



DR. NOADIAH SWIFT. 311 

of the times in which he lived. The revivals, the anti- 
slaveiy principles and measures, the temperance reforma- 
tion, public secular struggles and enterprises of his day, — 
these must be written out in order to make a truthful sketch 
of the life of Dr. Noadiah Swift. It is not the purpose of the 
"writer in this work to describe in detail the modern times 
of the church. Persons who were nearer the times and 
scenes themselves still live, and to them this interesting 
and important service is respectfull}' deferred. When the 
writer of this notice commenced his pastorate here, and fli'st 
became acquainted with Dr. Swift, he was already in the 
seventy-eighth year of his age. His maul}^ form was still 
erect and noble, and his independent and decided spirit 
exhibited enough of independence and decision still ; but 
nearly fourscore 3'ears, so many of them j^ears of toil, and 
with some share of life's heavy afflictions in the loss of be- 
loved ones by death, had begun to disclose their eflfect; But 
no one could see him in his place in the house of God, or 
hear his trembling accents in praj'er in the lecture-room, or 
witness his unflagging interest in the church's prosperity, 
without being convinced that he was still its friend tried 
and true, nor without being able to appreciate what a pow- 
ful leader and helper he had been in his prime in every 
good word and work. Owing to his father's circumstances 
he commenced life for himself, to use his own expression, 
without a shilling, and the decease of his father taking 
place two years before his marriage, he assisted somewhat 
his younger brothers and sisters. At the same time his 
charges for medical practice were extremel}' low. He was 
wont to say that it was a wonder to himself that he came 
to possess so extensively as he did the means to do good. 
But a kind Providence smiled upon him. He rose to an 
extensive medical practice, reaching to a wide distance in 
the region round about. He was for three j'ears a repre- 



312 MEMORIALS OF A CENTUP.T. 

senlative in the General Assembly of the State, and twice 
elected to the State Senate. He was also for manj'- j^ears 
successfully engaged in mercantile pursuits. His hopeful 
conversion took place in the great revival in 1831, and he 
united with the church on the same day when one hundred 
and thirty-one were received. One month afterward he 
was elected a deacon of the church, and continued in that 
office until his death, which took place in the city of New 
York, where he was temporarily residing in the family of 
his son, Edward H. Swift, March 21, 1860, in the eighty- 
fourth year of his age. His remains were brought home, 
and interred by the side of those of his wife, who had gone 
a few years before him. 

He married Jennett, daughter of Thomas Henderson, 
March 28, 1802. She was a member of the church, but the 
date of her admission has escaped the records. She de- 
ceased Feb. 10, 1853. 

Their children were Semantha, wife of Hon. Pierrepoint 
Isham, and Edward H., deceased. The following obituar}'- 
notice of Mr. Edward H. Swift appeared in the " New York 
Independent " at the time of his decease : — 

" Died, at Havana, Cuba, on the 21st of June, 18G5, of 
yellow fever, Edward H. Swift, formerly of Bennington, 
Vt., and for many years a merchant in New York, in the 
sixtieth year of his age. Mr. Swift was a gentleman of 
liberal education and cultivated mind. Amid the cares 
of a most active and eventful business life he found time for 
various and extensive reading, and was singularly well- 
informed with regard to all the leading topics of the da}'. 
More than thirty years since, he made a profession of re- 
ligion, and united with the church in Bennington, in con- 
nection with the ministry of the Rev. Daniel A. Clark, and 
throughout a life marked by no ordinary' vicissitudes and 
trials maintained a high character for integrity and business 



CAPT. SAXTON SQUIRE. 313 

capacit}'. Smitten by a fatal disease, and dying among 
strangers, his afflicted family were denied the consolation 
of soothing his last honrs by the ministries of affection ; but 
one who knew his worth, and admired his intelligent and 
manly virtues, pens this brief tribute to his memory." 

II. Capt. Saxton Squire united with this church in 
March, 1803, born Jan. 4, 1758, removed to this place, 
1786, from Kensington (now Southington), Conn. ; resided 
first near the residence of Esquire Hubbell, then, 1797, in 
the Centre Street, in the house which has for many years 
gone b3^ his name, carrying on tanning, shoemaking, and 
also farming, subsequently removed into what is now Ben- 
nington village. He deceased July 25, 1825. His wife, 
Sylvia, united with this church Jan. 3, 1819, born August, 
1765, died May 13, 1832. Their children : Dorcas, born 
May, 1783; Alson, born Jan. 25, 1784; Norman, born 
July 27, 1787 ; Fanny, born Feb. 27, 1789, united with the 
church May, 1803, married to Lyman Patchin July 22, 1810, 
died Sept. 17, 1834, — a Christian lady of exemplary piety, 
and in whose heart was a perennial fountain of benevo- 
lence. Many a poor person found daily charity at her 
door, and from thence no needy one was ever sent empt^'' 
away. (Her daughter, Fanny M. Patchin, remarkable for 
the loveliness of her disposition, united with this church 
Sept. 4, 1831, married Samuel S. Scott, deceased May 27, 
1851.) Buckley Squires, deceased, born May 4, 1791, — 
genial and generous, an officer in the Episcopal Church ; his 
funeral discourse was preached b}' his pastor, the Rev Dr. 
Manser, to whom he was greatly endeared for his warm and 
faithful friendsliip, and his zeal, tenderness, and efficiency 
as a member of the church ; Newell Squires, born Julj'^ 4, 
1794 ; Albert, born Sept. 6, 1796, and Eliza, born July 11, 
1800. 

27 



314 MEMORIALS OF A CEKTVRY. 

III. Mrs. Mary Galusha united with this church in 
1789. She was the first wife of Governor Galusha, and 
daughter of Governor Cliittenden, married 1778, died 1791. 
By her, Governor Galusha had five sons and four daughters. 
Governor Galusha was not amember of any church, though, 
" in the estimation of those best competent to judge, a true 
Christian. He maintained family worship in all its forms, 
was known to observe private devotions, was an habitual 
attendant upon public worship and at social meetings, and 
frequently took an active part in the latter. In his daily 
life he was also such as a Christian should be, modest, 
amiable, upright, faithful to every obligation. . . . When 
nearly seventy-nine years of age, he attended a protracted 
meeting at Manchester, and took an active part in its exer- 
cises ; as the result of which he was aroused to a sense of 
the duty of making a public profession of religion, and 
announced his intention to do so, but was prevented from 
accomplishing his purpose by a stroke of paral^-sis, which 
he experienced soon after, and from which he never 
recovered. He was captain of two companies, consolidated 
into one, at the battle of Bennington ; and was in the 
detachment ordered to attack Baum's fortification upou the 
rear. His men were from Shaftsbur}-, where he resided. 
He was sheriff of the county, judge of the Supreme Court, 
and was appointed to other important ollices in the State ; 
born in Norwich, Conn., Feb. 11, 1753 ; died Sept. 25, 1834. 

By his first wife above mentioned he had five sons and 
four daughters. His children were well trained, and all of 
them who survived childhood became professors of religion ; 
one of them, Elon, an eminent minister in the Baptist denom- 
ination. ^ 

A fourth wife of Governor Galusha, Nabby, united with 
this church in 1821. 

1 Memoir of Jonas Galusha by Pliny II. Wliite. 



SAMUEL HICKS. 315 

IV. RuFus Barney came from Taunton, Mass., in 1790, 
■with Capt. Chace and Mr. Burt and Geo. Godfre3% and their 
families, all from Taunton, Mass. z They came in a vessel 
which they had chartered up the Hudson to Troy. At that 
time there was only a blacksmith sliop, store, and one house. 
Land could have been then bought there as cheaply as in 
Bennington. Elkanah Barney, a younger brother of Rufus, 
came from Taunton, Mass., in 1793. The}^ bought lands 
in the east part of the town. Elkanah Barney united with 
the Bennington First Church Sept. 4, 1825 ; his wife, 
Catherine, Aug. 6, 1820. 

V. Capt. Ebenezer Chace came as above. His wife 
was sister to Rufus and Elkanah Barney. His daughter, Mrs. 
Roger Booth, retaining her faculties, and brightening with 
the most genuine interest and feeling at the mention of the 
olden times, an intelligent lady and a sincere Christian, 
deceased in 1868, aged eighty-eight. Capt. Chace died 
Jan. 20, 1832, aged eighty-eight. Hannah, his widow, died 
Jan. 10, 1842, aged eighty-nine. They both united with the 
Bennington First Church May, 1803. 

They first lived upon the hill ; then moved down where 
Bennington village now is. Capt. Chace bought lands 
there. He cut the timber for his house, and moved into it 
in six weeks. 

\T. Samuel Hicks and Charity, his wife, united with 
this church Sept. 26, 1790, during the pastorate of the Rev. 
Job Svi'ift, D.D. His father was killed in the battle of 
Lexington. The family were sent with other families to 
Taunton, for safet3\ 

Charles Hicks, son of Samuel Hicks, with his sons, 
drove the first stages over the mountain, on the route 
between here and Boston, and also southward in the direc- 



316 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

tion of Pittsfielcl. His son, James Hicks, drove the first 
stage to Brattleborougb about fifty j^ears ago. The father 
drove a stage to Pittsfield many years before. He was the 
father of Hon. Charles Hicks and Uel M. Hicks, and Wil- 
liam, deceased 1832, at twentj'-five years of age, who grad- 
uated at Williams College with the appointment of vale- 
dictorian, Frederick, son of Uel M. Hicks, is a minister 
of the gospel. 

George, also a son of Uel M. Hicks, born Oct. 3, 1840, 
united with this church May 6, 1855, entered Williams 
College 1862 ; was a lieutenant of Vermont volunteers in 
the late war, and was killed before Petersburg July 30, 
1864. He was with a detachment which, after the explosion 
of the mine, made an unsuccessful attempt to pass bej'ond 
it within the enemy's line and capture the crest of Ceme- 
tery Hill. For gallant services, a commission of brevet 
captaincy was, by a vote of Congress, made out for him and 
sent to his parents. He was also in the battle of Gett3's- 
burgh. He was possessed of devoted pietj', brave, noble, 
and good. 

VII. Mrs. Polly Roach united with the church in 1790. 
She was the mother of Mrs. Fanny Raj^mond. An only 
daughter of Mrs. Raymond, Mrs. Seth B. Hunt, deceased 
in Feb., 1867. Mrs. Hunt united with this church Jan. 5, 
1834, and at the time of her decease was a member of the 
TalDernacle Congregational Church, Rev. J. P. Thompson, 
D.D., New York cit}'. Devoted as a daughter, sister, wife, 
mother, slie was polite and attentive to her guests and ac- 
quaintances. Blessed with wealth, she dispensed her ben- 
efactions to the poor with a liberal hand, having car-loads 
of the produce of the Bennington farm at "Maple Grove" 
shipped to New York, to be there, by herself and family, 
distributed to the needy. 



COL. ORSAMUS C. MERRILL. 317 

VIII. Dr. Micah J. Lyman came here from Tro3",N.Y., 
in 1790. He was graduated at Yale College in 1785. He was 
postmaster here for several years — 0. C. Merrill, Esq., 
being his successor. He was in business here as a druggist. 
He left here for Montreal about 1810 ; and removed thence 
to Tro3^,N.Y., on the declaration of war, and established him- 
self in his business in Tro}', taking his two eldest sons, 
Charles and George, as partners with him. " A family of 
great worth and excellent standing "^ originally from North- 
ampton, Mass. He came here to pass the remainder of 
life in 1851, but united with this church in 1843, while 
residing in Troy, because he was a Congregationalist, as a 
matter of principle, and so much so as to prefer to connect 
himself with that denomination in another town rather than 
with any other denomination where he was residing. His 
wife was Elizabeth Sheldon, a descendant on her mother's 
side of Ebenezer Hunt, one of the Northampton families of 
that name. 

Charles Lyman, his son, married Elizabeth Sheldon, who 
after his decease became the .second wife of the Rev. Dr. 
Hooker. George, his second son, is a deacon in this church. 

IX. Col. Orsamus C. Merrill was born in Farmington, 
Conn., June 18, 1775. He came to Bennington, April 5, 
1791 ; at sixteen years of age was apprenticed to Anthony 
Haswell, and learned the printer's trade. The first business 
he did for himself was to print an edition of Webster's 
spelling-book. The printing-press was in the kitchen part 
of the house, the residence of the late Gov. John S. Rob- 
inson. Mr. Merrill then studied law with Andrew Selden, 
Esq., and was admitted to the bar in 1805, and, in August 
of that 3'ear, was married to Mary, daughter of Judge Jon- 
athan Robinson. In 1809 he was postmaster in this town, 

1 Genealogy of the Hunt Family, p. 225. 
27* 



318 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

and held the oflice about three years. He was a major of 
the army in the war of 1812, and afterward a lieutenant- 
colonel. He was a member of Congress 1817-1819, and 
afterward a member of the State Council for five years ; also 
a representative to the Assembly and judge of probate. 
He was for several j^ears, between 1826-1832, editor of the 
" Vermont Gazette." He made a public profession of his 
faith in Christ and united with this church September 4, 
1831. 

He was remarkable for great purity, elevation, and 
urbanity of character. 

He was frequently the speaker of the day on public occa- 
sions. One of his orations of this kind, printed b}' request, 
with other literary exercises of the occasion, has fallen into 
the hands of the writer of this notice. He felt a deep in- 
terest and exerted himself much on behalf of common 
schools. His interested and careful labors as a Bible-class 
teacher also deserve mention. 

His belief of the doctine of justification by faith in Christ 
alone was scriptural and decided, and his Christian example 
characteristically conscientious and circumspect. He de- 
ceased April 12, 1865, in the ninetieth j-ear of his age. 

X. Dr. Heman Swift was born in Bennington, Septem- 
ber 30, 1791. He was the sixth sou and twelfth child of 
Rev. Job Swift, D.D., and Mary Ann Sedgwick. He was 
hopefully converted while a student at Middlebury College, 
which he entered at fourteen years of age, and united with 
the church there, graduating in 1811. He commenced the 
study of theology in the Theological Seminar}- at Andover ; 
but his health failing, he was obliged to relinquish his pur- 
pose, and then chose the profession of medicine. He set- 
tled as a physician in this town in 1821, and connected 
himself with this church November 5, 1820. He deceased 



DR. HE MAN SWIFT. 319 

Januaiy 30, 1856, in the fifty-sixth year of his age. He 
"vvas a member of the Vermont Senate in 1837. His mind 
was cultured by education, and stored with theological 
and Christian truth, and with general scientific information. 
He was especially accurate and well versed in history, and 
he had extensive acquaintance with public men. He was 
a warm and valued friend of ministers, and for years con- 
ducted a large Bible-class with great interest and success. 
His forgetfulness of himself in his desire to promote the hap- 
piness of others, and his extended and varied information, 
made him ever an agreeable and instructive companion. He 
sustained his high professional reputation and was in active 
practice until his death. Acute sensibility and tender sym- 
j)athy with the sick and suffering were remarkable traits in 
his character, and, in connection with his medical intelli- 
gence and untiring professional exertions, served much to 
establish that ardent attachment which existed between 
himself and those who emploj^ed him as a physician. 

His decease was most sudden. He had just left the 
family and passed into another room, with the view of 
going out again to meet professional engagements. Some 
member of the famil}', having occasion to go through the 
same room a few minutes subsequently, found him sitting 
back in a chair dead. His prayer that morning, at family 
worship, had been particularly noticed for an unusual ten- 
derness and fervency of his looking to Christ, supplicat- 
ing for grace to cling to the Saviour as his only hope. He 
married Ruth Robinson, grand-daughter, on her father's 
side, of Governor Moses Robinson, and, on the side of her 
mother, of Rev. Jedidiah Dewey. The last few j-ears of 
his life were attended by a heavy affliction in the decease 
of a daughter, the light and the joy of his house, — Jen- 
nett, wife of Hon. A. B. Gardner ; and of a son, Dr. Heman 
Sedgewick Swift, of whom the follov\-ing biograpical sketch 



320 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

is contained in the "Vermont Historical Magazine" : "Dr. 
H. Sedgewick Swift was born June 16, 1827. He was grad- 
uated at Williams College, and, after receiving a thorough 
education as a physician and surgeon, acquired great prac- 
tical knowledge and skill in the hospitals of New York and 
other cities. He was author of several treatises, which 
were published in the medical journals, some of which 
were translated into German and French, and by which he 
acquired much credit and distinction. He was a young 
man of great moral worth as Avell as of extraordinary pro- 
fessional promise ; but died Of a disease of the lungs, Sep- 
tember 23, 1857, at the early age of thirt}^ years." Re- 
served and self-distrustful with regard to religious hopes, 
he left in a private journal evidence that, in view of the 
approach of death, his trust for salvation was alone in 
Christ. 

Henry Mart}^!, a son of Dr. and Mrs. Swift, is a min- 
ister of the gospel. 

XI. Samuel Brown came here to reside about the year 
1794, with his wife and family, and the parents of his wife. 
She was Betsej'', only child of Capt. Daniel and Annis Hin- 
man. The}'^ came here from Charlotte, in this State, whither 
they had removed fi-om South Britain, Conn. They pur- 
chased and resided on the farm now the residence of Mr. 
Paige, in the south part of the town. Capt. Daniel Hin- 
man was a relative of Col. John Hinman, of Utica, Hon. 
R. R. Hinman, for several years Secretary of State in Conn., 
and of Gen. Hinman, Roxbury, Conn. He died here Dec. 
8, 1807, aged fifty-five. Mrs. Hinman died Nov. 24, 1815, 
aged sixty-three. Samuel Brown died April 21, 1819, aged 
fifty-four. Mrs. Brown died May 8, 1811, aged thirtv-six. 
They had two daugliters who deceased in early life. Hon. 
S. H. Brown is the only surviving child. 



JONATHAN HUNT. 321 

XIT. Roger Booth cume in 1 795 from Lanesboro', Mass. 
He married a daughter of Capt. Ebenezer Cliace, mentioned 
above, and resided on the place -where is the present resi- 
dence of Edward S. Pratt. He deceased Aug. 2, 1849, 
aged seventy-six. He was the father of Asahel Booth. 

Xni. Jesse Loojiis settled upon a farm in Bennington 
some time previoush' to 1795. His name is upon the town 
records as surveyor of highways in that year. He died Sept. 
13, 1839, aged eighty-five ^^ears and ten months. His chil- 
dren were Samuel. Ira, Lydia, Betsey, Clarissa, Jesse, Sally, 
and Emma. One of the above-named daughters married 
Hon. Luman Norton ; another married Mr. H. E. Dewey. 
Samuel was the father of Mrs. J. F. Robinson and Mrs. 
Caldwell, deceased. 

XIV. Capt. John Norton came from Sharon, Conn., and 
settled in Bennington about the same time with Mr. Loomis. 
He established himself here in the manufacturing of pottery 
ware. He died Aug. 22, 1828, in the seventieth year of his 
age. He was the father of Hon. Luman Norton, and grand- 
father of Mr. Julius Norton. 

XV. Jonathan Hunt came to Bennington about the 
year 1795. He was connected with a furnace a part of the 
time, and more permanently in business as a jeweller. For 
the latter years of his life he resided where is now the 
country residence and grounds of his son, Seth B. Hunt. 

He sang in the choir for forty j'ears, commencing at eight 
3^ears old. For many ^^ears he was leader of the bass in the 
Bennington church choir. He used to say, " When an}' per- 
sons expect to get better tunes than ' Old Hundredth,' or 
better hj'mns than those of Dr. Watts, they must go farther 
than an}' whom I know of have gone yet." Isaac T. Rob- 



322 



MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 



inson, a leading singer in the choir who stood near him, 
related the following reminiscence to the writer : " We 
sometimes discussed the comparative merits of old and new 
church tunes. Mr. Hunt strenuously advocated the old, I 
the new ; but I now think he was right." 

He married Miss Naomi Bliss, of Springfield, Mass. She 
deceased July 24, 1837. Slie was a faithful Christian. The 
Eev. Dr. Peters relates that, when pastor here, he always 
believed that his preaching benefited Mrs. Hunt and Avas 
appreciated by her, and he felt supported by her interest in 
his ministry, and her prayers. She used to say, "It is as 
much a duty to be cheerful as to go to meeting. She ab- 
horred selfishness, and assiduously trained her children to 
habits of benevolence. She was accustomed to quote a 
remark of Mi'. Haines, the colored preacher : " Selfishness 
spoils all that we do." Their children who grew up to adult 
years have become members of some Christian church. 

Ruth Hunt, their daughter, united with this church March 
4, 1827, deceased Sept. 29, 1867, aged sixty-one. In her 
last years, afflicted with difficulty of seeing, and at length, 
owing to paralysis, with almost total deafness, and help- 
lessness otherwise, but tenderly cared for by a brother's 
and a sister's affection, she ever expressed to the writer of 
this notice much gratitude toward them and to her heavenly 
Father. 

Mr. Hunt was one of six of the same Christian name in 
direct succession, being himself the fifth. Tlie first Jona- 
than was born in Salem, Mass., in 1637, married in Hart- 
ford, Conn., Sept. 3, 16G2, and died in Northampton, Mass., 
1691 ; the second in the direct succession, Lieut. Jonathan, 
was born in Northampton June 20, 1665, and died there 
July 1, 1738 ; the third Jonathan was born April 24, 1697, 
married Thankful Strong, and died in Northampton April 
22, 1768 ; the fourth married Sarah Parsons, and died in 



andhew selden, esq. 323 

Northampton in 1791 ; the fifth, our Mr. Hunt, died in Ben- 
nington in 1843 ; the sixth Jonathan Hunt, of San Fran- 
cisco, is still living. A Jonathan Hunt, descended from the 
first Northampton ancestor, cleai"ed land in Guilford, Vt., in 
1758, was much in public life, and in 1794 and 1795 was 
elected lieutenant-governor of this State. His son, Hon. 
Jonathan Hunt, of Brattleborough, was member of Con- 
gress, 1827-32. A brother of Lieut. -Gov. Hunt, Gen. Arad 
Hunt, gave five thousand acres of laud to Middlebur}^ Col- 
lege. ^ 

Mrs. or Miss Thankful Hunt was in Bennington in the 
daj'S of the first meeting-house, and taught school in the 
second story of the porch. She was from Northampton, 
and afterward became the second wife of Elisha Lyman, of 
Montreal. 

XVL Andrew Selden, Esq., " was born at Hadley, 
Mass. When young he removed, with his father, to Stam- 
ford ; represented that town in the General Assembly for 
six successive 3'ears from 1790 ; came to Bennington about 
1797; studied law with Hon. Jonathan Robinson; was 
admitted to the bar in December, 1809 ; was register of 
probate several j-ears, and died September, 1828, aged sixty- 
three." 2 He wrote verses. An ode is in print in connec- 
tion with an oration of Hon. O. C. Merrill, delivered here 
on a celebration of the 16th August. It is said he com- 
posed one of the odes sung at the dedication of the present 
meeting-house, and printed with the discourse. Alonzo 
Selden, of Whitehall, and Mrs. Angeline Selden are chil- 
dren of his, and Marcius G. Selden, a member of the Meth- 
odist Church in Bennington village, is a grandson, 

1 See Genealogy of the Name and Family of Hunt, pp. 180, 182, 183, 189. This 
genealogical record exhibits pedigrees of individuals of this name in America to 
the number of ten thousand. 

2 Vermont Hist. Mag. 



324 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY, 

Clarissa Griswolcl, who united with this church Maj^, 
1803, was the first wife of Marcius L. Selden, and mother 
of Marcius G. Selden. 3Iinerva Grisioold, who united with 
this church November 5, 1820, was the second wife of Mar- 
cius L. Selden, and mother of Capt. Henry and Lieut. Ed- 
ward A. Selden. Mrs. Alice Griswold, who united with 
this church September, 1784, was the mother of the first 
and second Mrs. Marcius L. Selden. 

Betsey L., first wife of Alonzo Selden, in Whitehall, 
united with the church November 5, 1820. Charity Selden, 
wife of Andrew Selden, Esq., united with the church Sep- 
tember 4, 1825. Lieut. Edward A. Selden united with the 
church July 4, 1858, was in Company A, fourth Vermont, 
in the Army of the Potomac, in its seven da3"s' retreat be- 
fore Richmond, and died soon after, and was buried in the 
church-yard of Westover church, near Harrison's Landing, 
Va., warmly cherished in the memory of his relatives and 
friends. Capt. Henry Selden, deceased, married Miss 
Manning, grand-daughter of Jonathan E. Robinson, Esq. 

Almika Selden was a native of.Bennington. She united 
with this church November 5, 1820 ; was married to Mr. 
Edgerton, and died in Buffalo, N. Y. She published, in 
1820, a 16mo volume of 152 pages, entitled "Etfusions of 
the Heart, contained in a Number of Original Poetical 
Pieces on Various Subjects." She penned the following 
stanzas on the Bennington battle : ^ — 

" No Lethean draught can ever clrowu 

The memory of that day of fear, 
Wheu the wild echo of fiirewell 

From parent, husband, child, and wife, 
Seemed sadder than the funeral knell 

That tells the certain flight of life ; 
Yet Freedom spake. Faith raised her rampart pure, 

•And holy confidence gave victory sure. 

1 Vermont Hist. Mag. 



AN ODE. 

" Then firmer than the native pine 

That tops thy mountains ever green, 
Led by Ahnighty smiles divine, 

Facing their foes thy sons were seen, — 
As when the livid lightning keen 

Tears from the pine some stem away, 
Yet still unmoved the trunk is seen : 

Thus Stark stood victor of the day, 
And while the voice of triumph met his ear, 

He for the dying foe shed pity's tear." 
28 



325 




CHAPTER XXIII. 

PERSONAL NOTICES. 

1803 AND AFTERWARD. 

)EACON JoTHAM French came from the vicinity of 
Boston. He war, a shoemaker. Before his conver- 
sion he was a deist. He was hopefully converted, 
and united with this church Jul}'' 1, 1811, under the 
ministry of the Rev. Mr. Marsh. In subsequent 
j^ears, being inquired of by Mr. Peters (Mr. Marsh's 
successor in the ministry here) about the cause of his con- 
version, he replied, " The goodness of God leadeth to 
repentance." His wife had been dangerously ill and recov- 
ered. He afterward learned that Deacon Bingham, who 
lived not far from him, had made her recover}'' a subject of 
special pi-ayer. He was elected deacon April 12, 1816, and 
continued in the office until his death, April 30, 1825. He 
resided in the house on the road to Esquire Edgerton's, 
and about half a mile this side ; Deacon Bingham, about 
the same distance beyond Esquire Edgerton's, on the 
same road. He was familiar with the Scriptures. He had 
an excellent memory, and stored his mind with passages of 
Scripture to support his deistical principles in argument, of 
which he was fond. When converted, his knowledge of the 
Scriptures was employed in defence of the faith he had 
before sought to destroy. He died a happy death. Mr. 
Peters, his pastor, went to see him, and, when retui'ning. 



WILLIAM PARK. 327 

some one asked him, "How is Deacon French?" The 
reply was, " On the borders of a better world." 

II. Mr. Harvey united with this church in the ministry 
of the Rev. Mr. Marsh, 1811. There are three other indi- 
viduals of the name on the roll of the church ; among these 

Rev. William Harvet united with this church in the 
ministry of the Rev. Mr. Peters, and became a minister of 
the gospel and missionary in India, where he fell a victim 
to the Asiatic cholera a few j-ears afterward. 

III. Daniel Nichols united with the church in 1803. 
There are twelve individuals of this name on the church- 
roll, six of whom united with the church the same year, 
1811, ministry of Mr. Marsh ; James, James B., Electa, i/ 
Sophia, died May, 1824 (wife of S. Hathawaj^ Jr.), BacJiel, 
Fanny, died Dec. 23, 1862, a warm-hearted Christian, and 
faithfully attached to the old church. 

IV. Park. — Betsey Park, 3Irs. Wilson, sister of Wil- 
liam Park, united with the church in 1803. Sophia, another 
sister, Ms. Capt. David Lyman, an earnest and exemplary 
Christian lad}^, mother of A. P. Lyman, Esq., and Mrs. 
Col. White, united with the church in 1817. 

William Park united with this church Nov. 3, 1833, born 
Jan. 15, 1782, deceased April 18, 1867, in the eighty-sixth 
j^ear of her age. He was a remarkable man. He possessed 
nmcli intelligence, Avas thoroughly hospitable, and of sin- 
gular honest}', sincerity, and firnuiess of principle ; he was 
an early and life-long friend of the temperance and anti- 
slavery reformations, and a humble and devout Christian. 
The community in which he lived on AYoodford hill felt 
in his influence the power of a daily life of godliness. 



328 MEMOEIALS OF A CENTURY. 

Severn,! suggestive and valuable reminiscences of the early 
history of this town and church were received from him by 
the writer of these pages. He was a warm personal friend 
and great admirer of the Rev. Daniel A. Clark. His wife, 
/Sarah, united with this church Sept. 2, 1827, and deceased 
July, 1854 ; esteemed and beloved by all. 
. Cynthia, 3Irs. Luther Park, united with this church 
Jan. 6, 1833, — early in the ministry of Rev. Dr. Hooker, 
and their children were baptized bj^ him. A son, Austin 
Park, is a minister of the gospel. (She removed her connec- 
tion to the Second Congregational Church.) The Hon. T. 
W. Park is a son of Mr. and Mrs. Luther Park. 

V. Thayer. — Betsey and Nancy Thayer united with 
the church in March, 1803 ; and Clarissa in July of the 
same year; Ruby Thayer, Mrs. Lawrence, in 1812; died 
Oct. 10, 1836. There are seven individuals of this name 
on the roll of the church. The Rev. Nelson Davis, of 
Lisbon, Conn., who preached here with others temporarily^ in 
the revival in 1803, was a relative of the Thayer family, and 
our townsman, Mr. Nelson Thayer, was named for him. 

VI. Jacob Pool and his wife, Zeruah, united with this 
church March 4, 1821. He was born in Abington Feb. 2, 
1767; he removed to this town Dec, 1805, and deceased 
April 1, 1864, at nearly ninet3'-seven years of age. The 
average age of his father and two brothers, at their deaths, 
was ninety-five. He was superintendent of the Sabbath 
school for a time during the ministry of Mr. Peters, and 
also that of Mr. Clark. He was possessed of a sound and 
clear intellect, and deeply attached to the Hopkiusian 
scheme of divinity. He had great muscular strength and 
agility, and in wrestling was a match for all competitors. 
He conducted family worship until a year and a half before 
his decease. 



I 



LYMAX PATCH IN. 



329 



VII. Charles Wright, Esq., son of Solomon "Wright, of 
Pownal, was born in 1786, graduated at Williams College, 
studied law with Chancey Langdon, of Castleton, and was 
admitted to the bar of Rutland County in 1807. He soon 
after commenced the business of his profession in Benning- 
ton, in which he continued until his decease, Feb. 15, 1819. 
At the time of his death he had the largest and most lucra- 
tive practice of any law^^er in the county, and sustained a 
high reputation for professional talent and integrity. ^ He 
married Eunice Robinson, daughter of Col. Moses, and 
grand-daughter of Gov. Moses Robinson, and daughter of 
Ruth, and grand-daughter of Capt. Elijah Dewey. 

VIII. Lyman Patchin was born in the town of Half- 
Moon, Saratoga Co., N. Y. He came to Bennington in 
March, 1809, and entered into partnersliip with Mr. Vibard, 
under the firm name of Otis Vibard & Co. In the spring of 
1812 he purchased the house and store belonging to the 
estate of Charles Nairne in Bennington Centre, one door 
south of the old court-house. He was a merchant in the 
same place forty years, and accumulated in his business for 
the times a large property. He possessed a remarkably 
firm will, and was very energetic, exact, and thorough in 
all business matters. He came into the town with an empty 
purse, and made his own way to fortune. He was married 
July 22, 1810, to Fanny, daughter of Capt. Saxton Squire. 
Lyman and Henry Patchin, and Mrs. Samuel S. Scott, 
deceased, are their children. Mr. Patchin was afterward 
married to Mrs. Sarah Maria Wells, his second wife. He 
deceased Aug. 16, 1857, in the seventy-second year of his 
age. He was regularly in his place in the sanctuary on the 
forenoon of the Sabbath, and an attentive listener. 

1 Vermont Hist. Mag, 
28* 



330 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

IX. John Vanderspiegel was born in New York city 
Sept. 30, 1773. He came here from Lansingburgh in 1810. 
He was married to Laura, daughter of Deacon Aai*on Hub- 
bell, Aug. 6, 1815. He deceased Nov. 24, 1848, in the 
seventy-sixth year of his age. The following is an extract 
from an obituary of him, published in the paper at the time : 
" Mr. Vanderspiegel was a worthy citizen ; respectable as 
a magistrate, and gentlemanly in his deportment, generous 
and liberal in his intercourse with his neighbors, and kind 
and affectionate in all his domestic relations." 

X. " Hon. Trueman Squire came to Bennington to reside 
in 1810. He was born at Woodbury, Conn., in Jan., 1764 ; 
was in the practice of law at Manchester for several years 
prior to and after the year 1800, where he held the office of 
State's attorney two years, judge of probate three years, 
from 1793, and was also secretary to the governor and 
council for several years. He was a good law3'er and an 
upright man, and had the respect and confidence of all."i 

XI. Mrs. Betsey (Austin) Carpenter united with the 
church Aug. 6, 1820. She was descended from Mr. John 
Austin, who settled in Bennington, it is believed, some time 
subsequently to the Revolutionary War. Fond of religious 
reading, edifying in conversation, a pattern of cheerfulness, 
exemplary in life's various duties, she was an ornament to 
her profession as a disciple of Christ. She died suddenly 
Aug. 23, 1862. 

XII. Robert Crossett united with this church Nov. 5, 
1820. Isaac Crossett became a member of this church 
March 4, 1827, and was subsequently a deacon in the Sec- 
ond Congregational Church in this town. He has since de- 

1 Vermont Hist. Mag. 



MES. SUSAXKA3 WATSOA"^. 331 

ceased. He was mucli respected for his amiable virtues 
and his consistency as a Christian and an officer in the 
church. There are five individuals of tlie name on the roll 
of the Bennington First Church. 

XIII. Lewis Chandler and his wife united with this 
church March 7, 1824. He was the father of Dea. Samuel 
Chandler. They removed here from Bernardstou, Mass. 
He died here at eightj'-six j-ears of age. For months before 
his decease, though naturally a strong-minded man, he 
ceased to recognize his neighbors and to take any con- 
nected interest in worldly affairs, but his mind was bright 
and steadfast with regard to his Christian hope. He had 
desired such a trust in Christ as would enable him to feel 
the assurance that all his sins were forgiven. This trust 
was vouchsafed to him, and he would frequentlj^ ejaculate, 
" Blessed Jesus ! " He had remarkable views of his Saviour 
and of heaven. 

XIV. Mrs. Susannah Watson united with this church 
Nov. 6, 1831. She deceased Sept. 15, 1862, quite advanced 
in years, having lived a life of remarkable cheerfulness and 
benevolence of spirit. She came to North Bennington to 
reside many years ago, and reared a large family of sons 
and daughters, who became Christian men and women. 

21iss Nancy Watson, her daughter, resided with her 
mother in North Bennington, united with this chm-ch by 
letter, and deceased April 25, 1861. She was marked by 
enthusiasm and intelligence as a disciple of Christ and mem- 
ber of his church. She was much valued by her ministers 
and others as an efficient helper in every good work. 

Mrs. Betsey Watson, wife of Dea. Watson, of the North 
Bennington Baptist Church, and daughter of Dea. Calvin 
Bingham, united with this church May 6, 1827, deceased 



332 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

July 13, 1860 ; ever deeply interested in religion, and its 
institution and progress in the world. 

XV. Dr. William Bigelow was born in Middletown, 
Vt., Nov. 7, 1791, and married to Miss Dorinda Brewster, 
of the same place, Oct. 9, 1815. He was hopefully con- 
verted to God in the summer of 1816. About this time he 
went to reside in Fairhaven, in this State, as a practising 
physician, and on the first Sabbath in 1817, with seventy 
or eighty others, he united with the church, and afterward 
was elected deacon there. He removed to Bennington in 
November, 1829. Though coming into a community of 
high social position, and where eminent physicians were 
already established, he at once took his place with the fore- 
most in his profession, and ever maintained it. 

On one occasion his fellow-citizens of this district elected 
him to represent them in the Senate of this State. His 
social powers, his observations upon men and events, his 
interest in public aflpLiirs and the prosperity of the commu- 
nity, his genial and generous nature, were alike remarkable. 
Owing to ill health he was not exempt from depression of 
spirits, but he learned the art of forgetting himself and so 
conversing as to cheer others. Those who prized him as a 
physician, or in any relation as a personal friend, did so 
with no common attachment. 

He was an impressive speaker. Gracefulness of mind 
and person contributed to this. His manner was dignified, 
and his feeling genuine. This talent he frequently exer- 
cised in gatherings of his fellow-citizens, but more con- 
stantl}" in the prayer and conference meeting. He regarded 
the duty as sacred. To some it might have appeared un- 
studied with him, as he seldom suffered an occasion for the 
performance of it to pass unimproved ; but his remarks were 
not unpremeditated, and were often prepared with much 



DR. BIGELOW. 333 

deliberation and care. In no place was his influence more 
happy than in business meetings of the cliurch. Tliere often 
occur in such meetings critical differences of opinion, or hesi- 
tancy on the part of brethren to act. At such times his 
counsels ever helped the good cause to move forward. He 
was on two or more occasions elected superintendent of the 
Sabbath school. He was one of the committee on the last 
revision of the articles of faith and covenant of this cliurch. 

"When he first came to Bennington the great competition 
between the " Old Line " and the " Pioneer," as the two 
rival academies were termed, was at its height. It became 
necessary for his children, if they should go to the " Pio- 
neer" academy, to pass by the "Old Line" institution, 
which was a thing then not pleasant to do. His children 
anxiously inquired of him to which of the schools he would 
send them. He replied, " It is not necessary for you to 
know until the time comes." When the time came he sent 
one to the " Old Line " and one to the " Pioneer." 

At the same time there was a certain authority in what- 
ever he said or did. He would never allow any one to 
speak disrespectfully of religion in his presence. Physi- 
cians whom he very much respected for their talents and 
professional acquirements, but who were irreligious, would 
sometimes let drop some irreverent expression ; he never 
allowed such freedom to pass unrebuked, but would so repl}'^ 
that probably the person offending in that way would not 
repeat the oflf^ence. 

When the Rev. Mr. Foot preached his revival sermons in 
Bennington, and took extreme ground in favor of human 
activity in conversion, Dr. Bigelow remarked, "He leaves 
nothing for me to pra}^ for." 

On Oct. 5, 1858, owing to ill-health, which obliged him 
to relinquish active professional duties, he went to Spring- 
field, Mass , to reside with his son, Edmund Bigelow. He 



334 MEMOniALS OF A CENTURY. 

however continued, so long as bis strength permitted, to 
practise as consulting physician, and received marked re- 
spect from the medical profession there. ■ He continued at 
Springfield his wonted labors as a member of the church, 
removing his church-relationship to that place. 

At his funeral there his pastor, Rev. Mr. Parsons, said, 
" As I look around upon this assembly, I see ten physicians, 
and I wish to sa}' to them that Dr. Bigelow always found 
time to attend church, and also to attend to his patients." 

He revisited Bennington nearly every summer after his 
removal from this town, aud passed a winter with his 
daughter, Mrs. John Squires, in Troy, N. Y. Upon his de- 
cease, according to his request, his remains were brought 
and interred here. He died in Springfield April 13, 1863. 

XVI. GrAY R. Sanford, and his wife, Hannah, 
daughter of Capt. Brown, of Southbury, Conn., united 
with this church Nov. G, 1831 ; both invalids for years, 
and called to endure great bodily suffering, 3'et unflinch- 
ing in resolution, proverbially cheerful, rejoicing in the 
prosperity of religion, devoted to the happiness and wel- 
fare of their children, and remembered with much affection 
and esteem for their generous hospitality and man}^ vir- 
tues. The3^ came here to reside, from Harwinton, Conn., 
in 1829. Mr. Sanford was successfully engaged in mercan- 
tile pursuits with his brother-in-law, Hon. S. H. Brown. 
Mr. Sanford deceased Nov. 9, 1853 ; his wife, Oct. 23, 1859. 

XVII. Hon. John H. Olin was the son of Hon. Gid- 
eon Olin, of Shaftsbur}-, and resided in Shaftsbury. He 
was born in Rhode Island, Oct. 12, 1772, and came to 
Shaftsbury, in his father's family, in 1776, and died there 
June 17, 1860. He was two years judge of probate, and 
eight, from 1817 to 1825, one of the judges of the County 



NOTE BY THE WRITER. 335 

Court. He united with the Bennington First Church 
March 3, 1839. A little more than a year before his de- 
cease he was with this church at its celebration of the 
Lord's Supper, and, thinking it might be the last time, as 
it was, he rose in his place, and, in a very feeling and ap- 
propriate manner, expressed his attachment to his fellow- 
members of the church, and testified to his faith and hope 
in Christ. He endeared himself to others by the warmth 
and frankness of his nature, and his intelligent and genial 
conversation, and was widely respected and esteemed. 



In referring to the fact of joining: the Bennington First Church, 
the writer finds there has been constantly an unconscious use of 
the terms, " the church," and " this church ; " partlj' because he has 
written from his own stand-point as pastor of the church named, 
partly to avoid the more cumbrous repetition of the distinctive 
title, but chiefly because most of the instances adduced date back 
of the existence of other churches in the town. ' 

In the above numerous personal notices it cannot be but that 
mistakes have occurred, which kind readers will be most likely 
to notice so far as their own families are concerned ; these can 
readily correct such mistakes in their own copies, and the copies 
of others most interested. 

In bringing the personal notices to a conclusion, the writer de- 
sires to express the sincere wish that it had been better done ; 
but he has also to say that he has done what he could. This part 
of the volume has occasioned him more labor and anxiety than 
any other; particularly he regrets not to have been able to em- 
brace to a greater extent, in these sketches, persons, who, since 
the organization of the other churches in town, have deceased in 
connection with those churches and parishes I'espectively. This 
he could not do without extending this volume and his labors 
beyond all practicable limits, nor even then to any good purpose, 
for want of suitable information. 




CHAPTER XXIV. 

EDUCATION. 

OMMON SCHOOLS. In the town plot granted 

7y^ by charter of the governor and council of New 

Hampshire, Jan. 3, 1749, one of the sixty-four 

lots was for schools. On Jan. 19, 1763, it was 

voted at a proprietors' meeting, 

"To send a petition to the General Court of the province of 
New Hampshire, to raise a tax on all the lands in Bennington, 
resident and non-resident, to build a meetiug-house and a school- 
house, and mills, and for higliways and a bridge." "May 9, 
1763, voted to raise six dollars on each right of land in said Ben- 
nington for building a meeting-house and school-house." 

The first district school-house stood about four rods west 
of the present residence of Mrs. S. H. Blackmer. Mr. 
Bancroft, referring to a period of time as early as 1765, 
states that the inhabitants of Bennington, at that time, 
had provided " three several public schools." ^ 

" As the settlements extended, new schools were opened, 
and they have been ever since kept in all parts of the 
town, so that a convenient opportunity has at all times 
been afforded to all the children and youth within its lim- 
its to obtain instruction in the common English branches 
of education." 2 

The earliest, as well as all the records, both of the town 
and the church, are remarkably free from those monstrosi- 

1 Vol. v., p. 291. 2 Vermont Hist. Mag. 



EDUCATION IN THE STATE. 337 

ties in spelling and grammar whicli are so apt to charac- 
terize the antiquarian documents of town and church 
histories. 

II. Education in the State. — As it may be assumed 
that the Bennington early settlers, being also pioneers in 
Vermont, ma}^ have had some influence on the character of 
the educational institutions of the State at large, it may 
not be irrelevant to adduce the early history of the State 
with reference to this subject. In the first constitution 
(1777) is the following article: — 

" A school or schools shall be established in each town, by the 
legislature, for the convenieut instruction of youth. . . . One 
grammar school in each county, and one university in this State, 
ought to be established by direction of the General Assembly." 

In accordance with this instrument, we find at an early 
date, and subsequently among the statutes of the State, 
efficient school laws. An act, passed in 1787, is at hand 
for example : — 

"For the due encouragement of learning, etc. : that each town 
shall be divided, when necessary, into convenient school districts ; 
one or more meet persons, together with the selectmen, to be trus- 
tees of the schools in the town ; a district committee to be ap- 
pointed at a meeting of the district, who shall be empowered to 
raise one-half of the money necessary for building and repairing 
a school- house, and supporting a school, etc., by a tax on the in- 
habitants of the district; the other half of the expenses to be 
provided for in a meeting of the district, either by a tax, or by a 
subscription in pi'oportion to the number of children any person 
shall send to such district school." 

The following remarks, by Dr. Williams, respecting the 
interest of the early settlers of this State in education, are 
so creditable to them, and so intrinsically just, thej^ are in- 
serted here : — 
29 



338 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

" The aim of the parent is not so much to have her children 
acquainted with the liberal arts and sciences, but to have them all 
taught to read with ease and propriety; to write a plain and 
legible hand ; and to have them acquainted with the rules of arith- 
metic, so far as shall be necessary to carry on any of the most 
common and necessary occupations of life. All the children are 
trained up to this kind of knowledge. They are accustomed from 
their earliest years to read the Holy Scriptures, the periodical 
publications, newspapers, and political pamphlets ; to form some 
general acquaintance with the laws of their country, the proceed- 
ings of the courts of justice, of the General Assembly of the State, 
and of the Congress, etc. Such a kind of education is common 
and universal in every part of the State. And nothing would be 
more dishonorable to the parents or the children than to be with- 
out it. One of the first things the new settlers attend to is to 
procure a school-master to instruct their children in the arts of 
reading, writing, and arithmetic ; and where they are not able to 
procure or hire an instructor,the parents attend to it themselves." ' 

From 1780, the time of the incorporation of Clio Hall in 
Bennington, until 1807, twent3^-five county grammar schools 
and academies were incorporated in the State.- Vermont 
University was chartered in 1791, in connection with a dona- 
tion of four thousand pounds from Ira Allen, but was not 
immediately organized. Middlebury College was chartered 
in 1800, and went into immediate vigorous operation. 
Vermont Universitj- was organized soon after at Burling- 
ton, the institution of learning at Norwich in 1820 ; Castle- 
ton Medical College, 1818 ; Vermont Medical College, 1827.3 

The highly esteemed pastor of the writer in his boyhood, 
in Derby, Conn., Rev. Zephauiah Swift, was a Vermonter 
by birth, and received a portion of his academical, and, it 
is believed, his theological education in Bennington, A 



1 Hist. Vermont, Walpole, 1794, pp. 224-25. 

2 Tolman's Statutes, 1S08, Appendix. 

3 See lists of colleges and other seminaries of learning with officers, graduates, 
and students, in Thompson's Vermont. 



CLIO HALL. 339 

subsequent pastor of the same church, while the writer's home 
was still there, the Rev. Hollis Read, the missionary and 
author, was a Vermonter by birth, and at the least came to 
Bennington for his wife. When the Avriter was settled as 
pastor in Stamford, Conn., everj'- neighboring Congrega- 
tional pastor, and at least two other pastors, distinguished 
members of the same ministerial association,were either grad- 
uates of Vermont colleges or natives of this State. This is 
by no means an isolated illustration of the fact that Ver- 
mont has nobly contributed to the clerical profession as 
well abroad as at home. If in Connecticut, how much more 
in the new States of the West ? The following reminiscence, 
furnished to the " Bennington Banner " by Deacon Stephen 
Bingham, is so much in point, it shall be given here : " Mr. 
Sanders, the author of an excellent series of school-books, 
was at my house several years ago, in order to introduce 
some of his books into the schools. A minister of this 
town, formerly from Massachusetts, was there also. During 
the interview Mr. Sanders said, ' I have been through all 
the middle, the western, and south-western States, to intro- 
duce my books ; and I find more teachers from Vermont 
than from any other State.' The minister exclaimed in 
surprise, ' AVhat ! more than from Massachusetts? ' ' Yes,* 
replied Mr. Sanders, ' more than from Massachusetts. For 
I seldom go into a place where there are tivo or three schools 
but I find at least one teacher from Vermont.' " 

III. Academies. — Clio Hall was the first incorporated 
academ}' in the State. The actof incorporation was passed 
Nov. 3, 1780. The building stood on the corner where the 
present meeting-house stands. It was for long in a flourishing 
condition. Mr. Eldad Dewey, grandson of the Rev. Jedi- 
diah Dewey, was principal for several j'ears. A notice of 
the celebration of the tenth anniversary of the Bennington 



340 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

battle, in the "Vermont Gazette" of Aug. 20, 1787, 
shows that educational interests, and Clio Hall in partic- 
ular, were not forgotten in the making up of the programme. 
A place in the procession was assigned to the rector and 
students, and the quarterly examination of the students 
was held both forenoon and afternoon, in connection with 
the other public exercises, in the meeting-house. In 1803 
the Clio Hall building was destroyed b}^ fire. 

William S. Cardell, educated at Williams College, and 
with scientific and literary acquirements of a high order, 
resided in the North Bennington village 1805 to 1806, 
and took pleasure in imparting instruction and promoting 
a taste for learning among the youth of the village and 
neighborhood, i 

Union Academy, in the east village, was incorpor- 
ated about 1816, and a building erected. The brick 
building in the centre village, called Bennington Acad- 
emy, was erected in 1821, " in which the higher branches 
were successfully taught for many years." The institution 
now called Mount Anthony Seminary was established in 
1829. This and the Bennington Academy were rival 
schools from 1829 until 1837. The teachers in the " semi- 
nary" have been Mr. — now Rev. — Addison Ballard, Rev. 
Gurden Hayes, Mr. G. W. Yates, and now Mr. Yales in 
partnership with Mr. S. Benjamin Jones. The list of 
teachers in the Bennington Academy is not at hand, — Prof. 
W. H. Parker, now of Middlebur}^ College, was one. A 
high school was commenced and a new academ}' building 
erected in the east village in 1833. " It enjoyed the patron- 
age of the Baptist denomination of the town and vicinity, 
and was for several years in a flourishing condition under 
the successive charges of Messrs. Adiel Harvey, Horace 
Fletcher, Justin A. Smith, William G. Brown, and others." 

1 Vermont Hist. Mag. 



COLLEGE GRADUATES AND OTHERS. 341 

Miss Eliza M. Clark and sisters opened a 3'oung ladies' board- 
ing-school in the east village, Bennington village, in 1859. 

In North Bennington a building, which had been erected 
for a Universalist church, was, in 1849, purchased by the 
citizens, and fitted up for an academy. Mr. Carpenter, 
Messrs. Knight and Gould, and others have taught the 
higher branches in this school. ^ 

IV. College Graduates and Others. — Eldad Dewey, 
Nathan Robinson, Esq., William A. Griswold, Esq., and 
one of the Harmons, are recollected by an old citizen as 
members of Dartmouth College, all at the same time. 
Jonathan E. Robinson, Esq., David Robinson, Esq., and 
Governor John S. Robinson were graduated at Williams Col- 
lege. Martin, a promising son of Jesse Field, went to col- 
lege and died there. Governor Tichenor was a gradu- 
ate of Nassau Hall. The successive pastors of the Ben- 
ninton church, after the first pastor, have all been college 
graduates. We have not at hand materials for making out 
a complete list of college graduates, or of the sons of Ben- 
nington who have distinguished themselves without a col- 
lege education, in the professions, in public office, and in 
mercantile or other business life. A great number of names 
will be found connected with some more or less particular 
notice of them throughout this volume. Bennington has 
a long list of sons, of whose talents, energy, and success in 
the world she may justly be proud. And her present 
impetus in enterprise, wealth, and taste, — an augury of a 
bright future, — doubtless, in no small degree, worthily 
represents the energy which, for forty years or more of 
her early history, made her a controlling town in the State, 
and an evidence that educational influences fitted to foster 
and promote energy of mind have not been wanting. 

1 See the article on Education in Vermont Hist. Mag., p. 163, 
29* 




CHAPTER XXV. 

CHURCHES ORGANIZED IN BENNINGTON SUBSEQUENT- 
LY TO THE ORGANIZATION OF THE BENNINGTON 
FIRST CHURCH. 

1762-1862. 

)HE Rev. J. Hibbard and his People. — For a 
portion of the time daring the ministry of Mr. 
Dewey, Rev. Ithamar Hibbard resided in the west 
part of the town ; and, for a short time, was minis- 
ter of a congregation which assembled at his house. 
The site of his residence is well known as the Hib- 
bard lot. It is on the north-western slope of Mt. Antlionj'. 
At that time a road wound round the mountain nearer its 
base than the road now does, and passed along tlie border 
of the Hibbard lot. There are few traditions and still fewer 
recorded particulars of this congregation. There is reason 
to believe that it was an attempt at a more radical Separa- 
tism than the Bennington church, as a body, approved. 
There are two brief entries, and only two, concerning it, 
in the Bennington church records: "November 12, 1772. 
The church being met by appointment, the meeting being 
opened by prayer, agreed to send for a council, on condi- 
tion Mr. Hibbard and his people would drop Mr. Frothing- 
ham ; and, for ourselves, chose Mr. Miller and Mr. Park." 
This Mr. Frothingham might have been Rev. Ebenezer 
Frothingham, first pastor of the Separate (now South) 
church, in Middletown, Conn., 1747-1788. The Mr. Miller 



BENNINGTON CHURCHES. 343 

was, doubtless, Rev. Alexander Miller, pastor of tlie Sepa- 
rate church in Plaiufield, Conu. The other. Rev. Paul 
Park, pastor of S, Separate church in Preston, Conn. " De- 
cember 31, 1772. The church having met by appointment, 
the meeting being opened by prayer, voted to send an 
epistle to the churches concerning Mr. Hibbard and his 
people ; their setting up as a church in the manner they 
have done, and their conduct thereupon." 

The following particulars of Mr. Hibbard's history are 
from a "Fiftieth Anniversary Discourse," delivered at 
Poultuey, in 1852, by Rev. John Goadby : "This little 
church" (the Baptist church of Poultney) "in its infancy 
united with the Congregational church in supporting the 
gospel, in worship, and in communion, under the pastoral 
care of Ithamar Hibbard, who had been a chaplain in the 
army of the Revolution. He was the first settled minister 
in the town, and, it is supposed, came with an organized 
church from Bennington. In 1785 or 1786 some difficulty 
arose among the Congregationalists in relation to their pas- 
tor, some informality connected with his ordination being 

alleged as the ground of dissatisfaction The 

result was the organization of another Congregational 
church." " It was expected by Mr. Hibbard's friends that 
the ncAvly organized church intended to take advantage 
of the alleged informality in his ordination to dispute 
his right to the lands appropriated to the first settled min- 
ister. To preclude the attempt, a council was called about 
the year 1788, when he was ordained according to the Con- 
gregational order. His previous ordination was according to 
t\xQ strict Congregational order." In 1796 the two churches 
were united, and Mr. Hibbard, who had continued pastor of 
his own church up to this time, was moderator of the meeting 
at which the union of the two churches was effected. In 
1798 he became pastor of the church in Hubbardton, and 



344 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

died there March, 1802. Before his dismission from the 
Poultney church " he became a free-mason, which was a 
trial to many." 

Mr. Hibbard was a member of the Vermont General As- 
sembly, in 1778, from Wells; also in 1779, as appears by 
the journal. 

He is spoken of as an orthodox and sincere man, and of 
respectable attainments, with a voice which in preaching 
and praj'er could be distinctly heard at the residence of 
Aaron Hubbell. Several verses, entitled " Hie Death of the 
Saint desirable" printed by Anthony Haswell in a collec- 
tion of anonymous pieces, have been assigned by tradition 
to Mr. Hibbard as their author. 

One of his sous was the first settled minister in West 
Haven, Vt. 

With the above slight exception, if exception it can be 
called, the Bennington church was alone until April 11, 
1827. It was not designated by any denominational title. 
Its simple name was The Church of Christ in Benning- 
ton. Up to this time the present house of worship in Ben- 
nington Centre and its predecessor were the only houses of 
worship for the whole town. At the close of this period 
the Protestant population of the town was nearly as large 
as it is now. 

II. The First Baptist Church ^ was organized April 1 1 , 
1827 ; its first meeting-house erected in 1830, and dedicated 
July 7 ,of that year. Its pastors have been as follows : 
The Reverends F. Baldwin, June 28, to October, 1830 ; 
Thomas Teasdale, until February, 1832 ; Jeremiah Hall, 
for three years, until April, 1835 ; Samuel B. Willis, for 
one year, ending June, 1836 ; Stephen Ilutchins, 1836-41 ; 

1 The following statistics are taken chiefly from the Vermont Hist. Mag., pp. 
162-3. 



» 



I 



BEXXIXGTOX CHURCHES. 345 

William W. Moore, for one year, ending in 1843 ; Cyrus 
W. Hodges, from the fall of 1843 to that of 1848 ; Edward 
Conover, 1849-52 ; Mr. Conover was succeeded by the Rev. 

A. Judson Chaplin, and he by the Rev. Warren Lincoln ; 
the Rev. E. B. Palmer preached one year ; the Rev. William 
S. Apse}^ succeeded him. The number of members, at the 
close of the j^ear 1862, was one hundred and forty-seven ; 
the number at its organization, thirty-two. 

III. The Methodist Episcopal Chdrch, in Bennington 
Village, was organized in May, 1827 ; its meeting-house 
erected in 1833. The following named clergymen have been 
stationed here since May, 1827, for two years each : The 
Reverends Cyrus Prindle, John M. Weaver, Wright Hazen, 

Henry Burton, Henry Smith, Hubbard, C. R. Wilkins, 

Jesse Craig, J. W. Belknap, H. B. Knight, R. Wescott, C. 
R. Wilkins, Merrit Bates, H. R. Smith, Ensign Stover ; 
1856-57, J. E. Bowen; 1858-59, C. R. Morris; 1860-61, S. 
P. Williams ; 1862-63, Jonas Phillips. The number of mem- 
bers at the close of 1862 was one hundred and seventy, and 
thirty probationers. 

IV. St. Peter's Church (Episcopal) was organized 
July 24, 1834, under the ministry of the Rev. Nathaniel O. 
Preston, and a church edifice built of brick in 1836, which 
was consecrated July 22, 1839. The Rev. Mr. Preston con- 
tinued in charge of the parish until the fall of 1844, and was 
succeeded by the Rev. C. L. Todd for one year, and by the 
Rev. E. F. Remington for a few months. The Rev. George 

B. Manser, D.D., became rector in Februar}-, 1850, and 
deceased Nov. 17, 1862, aged fifty-nine years and three 
months. Dr. Manser was widely respected, and his death 
felt to be a public loss as well as a sore bereavement to his 
flock. His successor was the Rev. Duane S. Phillips. The 



346 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

number of communicants, at the close of 1862, was one hun- 
dred and twenty-six. 

V. The Hinsdillville Presbyterian Church was or- 
ganized Nov. 1, 1834, by a colony from the First (Congre- 
gational) Church. The Reverends Messrs. Kenne}', Johnson, 
and Nott were successivelj' pastors. The church ceased its 
active existence in 1842, and the members, who originally 
numbered sevent3'-five, mostly returned to the church from 
which the}' had colonized. 

VI. The Second Congregational Church, being also 
a colony from the old church, was organized April 26, 1836, 
and soon afterward the Rev. Aretes Loomis became its pas- 
tor. He continued in the pastorate until Nov. 6, 1850, and 
was succeeded by his son-in-law, the Rev. Andrew Bever- 
idge, for a short time. 

The Rev. Mi\ Loomis, after his dismission, continued to 
preach in various places with acceptance and usefulness 
nntil a short time before his decease, which took place in 
Bennington, where he resided. He was logical, clear in his 
style, conscientious, and faithful, and enjoyed the highest 
confidence of all as a minister, a Christian, a man, and a 
citizen. Two of his sons and a son-in-law are ministers 
of the gospel. 

The Rev. C. H. Hubbard commenced his ministry here in 
1851, and still continues. The number of members, at the 
close of 1862, was one hundred and ninety-seven. 

VII. A Universalist Meeting-house was erected in 
North Bennington in 1836. The Reverends Messrs. G. 
Leach, Bell, Warren Skinner, and otliers successively offi- 
ciated as clergymen. In 1849 the building was purchased 
for an academy, and has been since occupied as such. 



BENNINGTON CHURCHES. 347 

VIII. The Baptist Church at North Bennington was 
organized in Jul}', 1844, and in 1845 a neat and convenient 
house of worship erected. The Rev. Justin A. Smith 
became pastor in 1844, and continued in that relation for 
nearly five years, until July, 1849. He was in a few months 
succeeded by the Rev. J. D. E. Jones, who continued in 
charge of the church until the spring of 1855. Then the 
Rev. William Hancock was the pastor for one year, and the 
Rev. Jay Huntington, for four years, 1856-60. His suc- 
cessor was the Rev. Jireh Tucker. The church numbered, 
at the close of 1862, ninety-five members. 

IX. The Methodist Episcopal Church, in Hinsdillville, 
was organized in the spring of 1858, and the old house of 
worship, built in 1835 for the Presbyterian congregation, 
was purchased and repaired for their use. The Rev. J. E. 
Bowen was stationed there, 1858-59. His successor was 
the Rev. Mr. McChesney. The Rev. G. Cuyler Thomas, 
1861-62, with a membership of ninety-four. 

As long ago as 1836 a small chapel had been built about 
half a mile from the present church, which was supplied 
with preaching in connection with another Methodist Epis- 
copal society in H6osick. Among the clergymen who thus 
officiated here were the Reverends A. A. Farr, in 1840 ; F. 
D. Sherwood, in 1841-42 ; C. Barber, in 1843-44 ; William 
Henry, in 1845 ; A. Jones, in 1846-47 ; and J. Sage, in 
1848-49. After this, regular preaching was suspended until 
the new organization in 1858. 

In 1857-58 there was an extensive revival in the north- 
east part of the town, among the fruits of which were addi- 
tions to the several churches, and a chapel built, where 
preaching is more or less regularly supplied hy the pastors 
of the Methodist Episcopal denomination, and a flourishing 
Sabbath school maintained. 



348 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

X. For some years previous to 1850, Father 0. Calli- 
ghau, residing at Burlington, held occasional Roman Cath- 
olic meetings in the court-house in this town. He was 
succeeded by the Rev. Mr. Daley, who came regularly at 
stated times. He was succeeded, in 1855, by the Rev. Mr. 
Druon, who resided here, and under whose administration 
a convenient church building was erected the same year. 
He remained about two years. The Rev. Mr. Bayden, from 
Rutland, then officiated until January, 1859. Then the Rev- 
erends Messrs. Cloarce and Fitzgerald successively. Father 
Dennis A. Ryan is the present minister. At the close of 
1862 his congregation numbered some one hundred and 
forty families in the town. 

Note. — A Congregational church was organized in North Ben- 
nington in 1868. 




CHAPTER XXVI. 

THE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 

^^^OHE celebration of the centennial anniversary of the 
* ' church's organization, which in point of chronology 
would more appropriately have been held on Dec. 
3, 1862, was appointed to the first Sabbath of Janu- 
ary, 1863, — (Jan. 4.) 

Some Extracts from an Account of the Cele- 
bration, by Richard M. Green, M.D., in the "Bennington 
Banner," of a subsequent date, will not be deemed out of 
place among these records of the old church : — 

" The weather was unusually fine, and it was in every 
way one of the most pleasant days that we ever have at this 
season of the year." It was so warm no fire was needed in 
the house, and some of the windows were a part of the time 
opened, — a remarkable circumstance for this latitude in 
midwinter. " Thus those who lived at a distance, — in par- 
ticular many of the aged, and others whom it might have 
been expected would be detained at home under ordinary 
circumstances by the rigor of the season, were enabled to 
be present on this most interesting occasion. An invita- 
tion had been extended to the other and younger churches 
of the town to gather at this old house and join in the ser- 
vices of the day. The different choirs, also, had been invited 
to take part in the singing, which they did under the direc- 
tion of Mr. John Fa}', the beloved leader of the choir of the 
old church. For some time before the appointed hour the 
house was crowded to the extent of its accommodations, 
30 



350 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

aud it was soon necessary to make use of all the seats and 
benches that could be placed in the aisles. It was easy to 
see that no feelings of mere curiosity had gathered together 
this large assembly, or any part of it, but a deep interest 
in, and sj^mpathy with, the occasion. At the appointed 
time Rev. Mr. Phillips, of the Methodist Church, opened 
the exercises by asking the blessing of God on those pi'es- 
ent, and the object for which they had come together. ' Cor- 
onation ' was then sung. After which, Rev. Mr. Hubbard, 
of the Second Congregational Church, offered a deeply im- 
pressive and appropriate pra^'er. After 'Old Hundredth' 
the discourse was delivered. ... It was listened to by 
all with undivided attention from its beginning to its close, 
— a period of two hours and a half. . . . All present 
at the dedication of the present house of worship were 
asked to rise ; only thirteen stood up. Prayer was offered 
by Father Beman, and the services were then closed by 
singing and the benediction. The members of the differ- 
ent religious bodies remained after the dismissal of the 
audience to celebrate together the Lord's Supper. Mem- 
bers of five different evangelical denominations were gath- 
ered about the table of their common Lord, and probably 
never before in this town had so large a number partaken 
together of the emblems of their Saviour's suffering." 

II. Concluding Remarks of the Centennial Dis- 
course. — " Even while I speak, how the scenes of the more 
recent past crowd upon my mind ! and if upon mine, how 
much more upon yours, respected friends, who are ' to the 
manner born ; ' and whose profoundest emotions mingle to- 
day with cherished reminiscences of years recently, or 
long since, gone b}^ Venerated and beloved forms rise 
before you : actors and deeds when this church was still 
the only church in the town, and it was in the fulness and, 



COXCLUSIOX OF CEXTEyKIAL DISCOURSE. 351 

I may say, pride of its strength ; the struggles in unscru- 
pulous controvers}' of powerful wills, when subjects of 
controvers}', or projects of innovation, had stirred up the 
whole strength of the parish to array the same, part on the 
oue side and part on the other ; individual events and 
transactions, assuming for some reason ineflfaceable promi- 
nence in 3'our recollections ; the commanding and graceful 
person of Governor Tichenor as he used to come in and take 
his seat regularly, and with dignified propriety, in the sanc- 
tuary ; the imperturbable regularity with which Deacon 
Calvin Bingham appeared over the hill with his sons and 
daughters, riding into the village street, and on to the house 
of God, to take their places in the pew and the singers' seat 
Qxery Sabbath, in sunshine and in storm ; the strong and 
earnest tones of Governor Moses Robinson in public sup- 
plication to God ; the enthusiasm and power, and culture, 
too, with which sacred song has ever been maintained in 
this temple of God. 

" Some of yon will, to-da}', I suppose, need not much 
assistance of mine to recall the feelings you have had while 
listening to the voices of leaders and other prominent 
singers who have occupied the seats in this gallery, — voices 
of exquisite melody and rare compass and control poured 
forth with the spirit and the understanding in the praises 
of God — alas ! hushed in death. Some, even since my brief 
sojourn among you, have passed away from us, who were 
important actors in the scenes and career of this church ; 
and than whom, if they were spared and were with us, 
there would be no more deeply interested participants in 
the exercises of this occasion, attached in bonds of endur- 
ing affection to this church of their ancestors and of their 
own intense care and unwearied labor ; fathers and mothers 
in this Israel, and laborers with a will in this vineyard of 
the Lord, striving, alas ! with human passion, and yet 



352 MEMORIALS OF A CENTUItY. 

where want of energy is treason to the cause, for these 
altars of their God. Venerated and beloved ones ! over 
whose graA^es the tears of affection are still shed, and whose 
vacant places we could easily pause to mourn OA^er afresh 
at this time, we may yet thank God for what you were 
enabled to manifest of zeal for his house ; and we will pray 
that we may emulate that zeal, so far as it was worthy, 
ourselves each in the church, and in that sphere in the 
church where Providence has placed us. 

" As a part of the more recent past of this church may be 
reckoned the organization of other churches in the town, in 
some more than others, I suppose, and yet in all instances 
more or less, embracing those who have been members of 
this particular communion. In the separation of members 
of a church to join other churches in the same town, or to 
assist in organizing such churches, there is apt to be a 
little disagreement as to the line of propriety and duty in 
such cases between those who go and those who remain. 
But all now, I presume; feel that the course of population 
into the valle3^s and plains demands there houses and means 
of public worship ; and all believe, too, that different denom- 
inations of Christians have a right, as to one another, to their 
own opinions and preferences. 

" It is in this spirit we welcome you, friends of the different 
churches of the town, here to-day, and rejoice in the pros- 
pect of sitting down with you at the common table of our 
Lord. We doubt not that you are sharers with us in the 
interest we feel in the past history of a church of which 
many of j'ou were once particular members yourselves, and, 
in the case of more of you, your ancestors were. 

" Take the lessons of this occasion, if there is aught in 
them to guide us, that we may act our part that remains 
wisely and well ; and, when we separate, go to your own 
several fields of labor and privilege, leaving j^our blessing 



CONCLUSIOX OF CENTEN^NIAL DISCOURSE. 353 

with us, and taking our blessing with j^ou, and with renewed 
zeal give yourselves to the duties which the best welfare of 
your several churches calls upon j-ou to perform. So may 
you for these churches help to make a history, which, when 
their hundredth anniversary shall come round, will make an 
occasion for their then living members as fall of interest to 
them as this is to all of us who are here present." 
30* 




CHAPTER XXVII. 

SUPPLEMENTARY. 

_ HE Township in the Olden Time. — At the time 
of the Bennino-ton battle there were rude tenements. 



Large portions of the town were covered with pri- 
meval forest, — Mt. Anthony, base and sides as 
well as top down to near the meeting-house. The 
land was, however, highly productive, and largely 
cleared and planted. There was great agricultural pros- 
perity. The only village was what is now called Benning- 
ton Centre. There were also numerous frame dwellings. 

Col. Seth Warner came to Bennington to reside in Janu- 
ar3% 1765, and remained here until the summer of 1784. 
He was a near neighbor of James Breakenridge. EUwells 
and Strattons came among the early settlers and bought 
lands in that part of the town, where those families still 
are. Dr. Jonas Fay resided in a house on the " Blue Hill." 
Drs. Gaius Smith and Medad Parsons resided in the west 
part of the town. Dea. Joseph Safford located himself on a 
farm near the present residence of Thomas McDaniels. The 
Bingham homestead was on the commanding and beautiful 
eminence south of and near the present village of North 
Bennington. Jonathan Lawrence, whose daughter Mary 
was the wife of Gen. Samuel Safford, settled in the south- 
east part of the town. Gen. Ebenezer Walbridge was joint 
proprietor with Joseph Hinsdill in the first paper-mill 
erected in the State, 1786, where is now Paper-mill Village. 



S UPPLEMENTA R Y. 355 

In Sager's Cit}", now North Bennington, a saw-mill was 
erected in 1775. Tlie mills, called " Samnel Safford Mills " 
as earl}' as 17G6, were bnilt at the outset of the settlement 
of the town. Samuel Safford, afterward Gen. Safford, was 
the miller. It is related that on one occasion, when a com- 
mittee waited upon him to inform him of his appointment 
to some important ofKce, the spokesman remarked that they 
had found him an honest miller, and they therefore trusted 
he would make a faithful public officer. He built and occu- 
pied the house now the residence of Mr. M. C. Morgan, in 
1774. Benjamin Webb, Sen., deceased Feb. 12, 1812, came 
from Windsor, Conn., about 1770, and settled where Benja- 
min Webb now resides, with his wife. Electa, daughter of 
Gen. Safford, ninet3'-two years of age, — bright and cheer- 
ful, and taking a deep and intelligent interest still in remi- 
niscences of the olden time. Isaac Webster lived upon a 
farm west of Benjamin Webb. 

Not until after the present century did the east and north 
villages gain much growth. ^ The road from Boston came 
OA'cr the mountain at the " Elbow." The first frame house 
in town was built by Capt. Samuel Robinson, near where is 
now the " Safford Robinson house." The first in the Centre 
Village was built by Gen. David Robinson, partly in front 
of the site ol^the present residence of G. W. Robinson. The 
house now occupied by Dea. H. H. Harwood was built in 
1770. 

The population of the town at the commencement of the 
Revolutionary War was, probabl}^, about fifteen hundred. 
There is in the possession of the Vanderspeigel famih- a 
picture of Bennington Centre as it was in 1796, — a large 
oil painting by Earle. 

1 A particular account, by N. B. Hall, Esq., of the early progress of Ben- 
nington Village, and of the North Bennington Village, by Gov. Hall, will be 
found in Vermont Hist. Mag., pp. 136-142. 



356 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

II. Execution of David Eedding. — He had been con- 
victed of " enemical conduct," and sentenced to be exe- 
cuted. The day of execution came, and with it a vast 
concourse of people. Ethan Allen had just arrived in town 
from his English captivit}', which added much to the excite- 
ment of the day. In the mean time the fact, for fact it was, 
that Redding had been tried b}^ a jury of six, contrary to 
the common law, was effectually employed by Redding's 
counsel to obtain from the governor a reprieve until Redding 
could be tried again. The throng of people assembled to 
witness the execution were much exasperated against Red- 
ding, and indignant that he should be so readil}' reprieved. 
Ethan Allen, suddenly pressing through the crowd, as- 
cended a stump, and, waving his hat, exclaiming, " Atten- 
tion, the whole ! " explained the reason of the reprieve, 
referred to the second day fixed upon \)j the governor and 
council, bade them return on that day, and added, with an 
oath, "You shall see somebody hung, at all events ; for, if 
Redding is not then hung, I will be hung m3'self ! " ^ 

III. TiBBETTS AND Whitnet.^ — On Sunday, August 8, 
1802, an affray happened on the farm of Roswell Moseley, 
residing about a mile south of the meeting-house (Benning- 
ton Centre), the Paige place, where several men were en- 
gaged in harvesting grain, in which a transient person by 
the name of Gordon, said to have been an Indian or Cana- 
dian, was so badly injured that he died the next day. His 
skull was fractured in several places, and trepanning, by 
Dr. Porter, of Williamstown, was resorted to, but without 
affording relief. The injuries appeared to have been in- 
flicted with clubs by George Tibbetts, of Pownal, and 
George Whitney, from Stamford. 

1 See a particular account of this aflair, Vermont Hist, Mag,, p. 159. See, 
also, Slade's Vermont State Tapers. 

2 MisJj. of Gov. Hall. 



SUPPLEMENTARY. 357 

They were arrested, and brought to trial for murder at a 
special term of the Supreme Court, holden for that purpose 
in Bennington in November following, when they were con- 
victed of manslaughter, and sentenced to three months' 
imprisonment, to pay a fine of four hundred dollars each, 
and to give bonds for their good behavior, each in five hun- 
dred dollars. 

The trial excited great interest at the time, and the verdict 
and sentence appear to have created considerable dissatis- 
faction. Pierrepoint Edwards, of Connecticut, was sent for 
b}^ the friends of the accused, and is said to have made a 
most eloquent and masterly defence. 

The jur}", on bringing in their verdict for manslaughter, 
were addressed by the three judges, Jacobs, Tyler, and 
Chief Justice Robinson, and sent back for a reconsidera- 
tion. The}', however, adhered to their first finding. 

Mr. Mosely was a prominent and respectable citizen, a 
Federalist in politics, and is believed to have taken an in- 
terest in the fate of the deceased. For this reason, or some 
other, in the then excited state of party feeling, both the 
judges and jury were charged with being influenced by po- 
litical bias in allowing the accused so easj' an escape. It 
does not seem probable that the charge was well founded. 
It is more likely there were extenuating cii'cumstances 
attending the occurrence which deprived it of much of its 
criminalit3^ 

rV. Jeffersonian Democracy. — The country was 
divided into two great political parties, at the head of one 
of which was Mr. Adams, and at the head of the other Mr. 
JeflTerson. The former were called Federalists, the latter 
Republicans. Gov. Moses Robinson^ was a political friend 
of Jefferson and Madison, and when in Congress united 

1 Gov. Tichenor, Capt. Elijah Dewey, and others were Federalists. 



358 MEMORIALS OF A CENTVnY. 

with them in their favorable views of the French revolution 
and government, and in their hostility to Jay's treaty with 
England. 1 In June, 1791, Mr. Jefferson, then Secretary of 
State, and Mr. Madison, a member of the House of Rep- 
resentatives, in making a horseback tour through New 
England, stopped in Bennington, and spent the Sabbath 
with Gov. Robinson, who had then been recently elected 
to the Senate. Judge Jonathan Robinson occupied a lead- 
ing position in the Republican party of the State for many 
years. While in the Senate he was understood to have the 
ear and confidence of President Madfson, and to have a 
controlling influence in the distribution of the army, and 
other patronage of the administration within this State, 
which, in consequence of the war with England, was then 
very great.^ 

Previously to Jefferson's election, as President, and 
during Adams' administration, Mr. Anthony Haswell pub- 
lished, in his paper, an article in relation to the imprison- 
ment of Matthew Lyon, under " the Sedition law," and 
another on the conduct of President Adams in making 
appointments to office, which, though manifesting consid- 
erable warmth of feeling, would not now be noticed as pos- 
sessing a criminal character. For these he was indicted 
before the United States Circuit Court, and in 1800, at 
Windsor, was sentenced, by Judge Patterson, to two 
months' imprisonment in the jail in this town, and to pay 
a fine of two hundred dollars and costs. He was allowed 
to serve out his term of imprisonment, which terra expired 
the 9th day of July. The celebration of the anniversary 
of the declaration of Independence was postponed until 
that day, when, his fine and costs being paid, he was lib- 
erated from jail amid the roar of cannon, and the acclama- 
tion of his neighbors and political friends. He was, by a 

1, 2 See Vermont Hist. Mag. 



S UPPLEMEXTA RT. 359 

large portion of the community, considered as a martyr in 
the cause of freedom ; and his prosecution, instead of 
strengthening the administration in this State, served 
great!}' to increase the number and zeal of its opponents. 
The fine and costs have since been refunded to his descend- 
ants by Act of Congress." ^ 

Throughout Vermont, at tliat period, party political zeal 
almost outran itself. The determined spirit, and individual 
independence, of the Vermonters, missing now the New 
York State controversies, and the Revolutionary War, ex- 
ercised itself upon the subjects and measures in dispute 
between Federalists and Republicans. What was true of 
the State in general was certainly true of Bennington in 
particular. 

The people read eagerl}^ the newspapers of the day, dis- 
cussed earnestly and comprehensively the public measures 
of the government, were intelligent, determined, and 
spirited in their conflicting positions almost beyond what 
we can now conceive of. Tlie writer has been permitted to 
see an interesting glimpse of this in the MS. diar}^ of Ben- 
jamin Harwood, and will take the libert}^ to favor the read- 
ers of these pages with one or two extracts : — 

"Oct. 18, 1808. — In consequence of certain intelligence being 
received in town of Mr. Tichenor being elected Governor of the 
State of Vermont, there was wonderful rejoicing among the Fed- 
eralists, which was demonstrated by firing the great gun, beating 
the drum, and playing the fife Next year the Repub- 
licans will rally and defeat the Federal cause in this State," — 
which they did. 

Mr. Galusha, one of the former judges of the Supreme 
Court of Vermont, was chosen governor of the State. 
His election was supported bj' the Republican party, wdiich 
had managed so successfully as to secure a majority over 

1 See Vermout Hist. Mag., pp. 176, 177. 



360 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

the old goA^ernor, who, for years, had served the State with 
fidelit}^ and applause. 

"April 29, 1808. — Mr. Parsons came here this evening and 
brought a couple of newspapers, dated April 26, " Lansiugburgh 
Gazette," and "Farmer's Register." The "Farmer" contains 
some most bitter complaints against the embargo ; but, after all 
they can say about it, they have not pi-oved that it is not a wise 

measure Mr. Parsons and I talk of taking a Federal 

paper between us, so as to see both sides, that we may the better 
judge." 

V. • Present Meeting-house of the First Church. — As 
early as 1792 the subject of a uew meeting-house began to 
be agitated in town meetings. Every such attempt, how- 
ever, was unsucccessfuli until Dec. 12, 1803, then a vote 
was obtained, 

" To build the meeting-house, and to tax the inhabitants to the 
amount of five thousand dollars for the purpose." 

In 1801, a statute had been enacted requiring, instead of 
the certificate of belonging to a different denomination, in 
order to exemption from the tax for religious purposes, onlj- 
that persons should sign a simple statement of dissent. 
At the meeting which voted to build the meeting-house and 
tax tlie inhabitants, it was also voted, 

" Tliat the term of one month be allowed to the inhabitants to 
enter their dissent." 

There w^ere onl3'^ a few who availed themselves of this 
provision. But, as appears upon the town records, one 
hundi-ed and twenty-three persons, male and female, had 
signed such a dissent eight da^'s before the Avarning pur- 
suant to which the above meeting was held. 

1 See town records for March meeting, 1792-1803. 



ARTICLES OF FAITH. 361 

The place for the new meetiug-house was decided upon. 
David Fay, Esq., was chosen treasurer ; David Robinson, 
Andrew Selden, William Henry, Jr., Esq., assessors ; Jon- 
athan "Wentworth, collector ; Isaac Tichenor, David Robin- 
son, Moses Robinson, Jr., Thomas Abel, and Jesse Field, 
the building committee. The work of building at once 
commenced, and was carried vigorously forward. 

In the mean time only about two thousand two hundred and 
ninety dollars of the tax had been collected, and it was 
ascertained the house, according to the plan, would cost 
seven thousand seven hundred and ninety-three dollars and 
twenty-three cents. The taxing method became increas- 
ingly unpopular. Before the house was completed it was 
determined, in a meeting of the society, to surrender the 
plain of raising the money by tax ; to refund to those who 
had paid their tax ; and to sell the pews on the ground floor 
for sufficient to defray all expenses, — which was accom- 
plished. In 1852 the square pews were removed and the 
church reseated with slips. A diagram of the pews of the 
house as it was dedicated Jan. 1, 1806, with the amount 
for which each pew was sold, and the names of the original 
proprietors of each pew, prepared by William Haswell, is 
in the keeping of the clei'k of the society. 

VI. Articles of Faith of the Bennington First 
Church. — The Cambridge Platform, with the exception 
hereinbefore mentioned, ^ was their standard of doctrine and 
discipline. They had no other articles of faith until July 1, 
1820. Then a summary of fourteen articles of faith was 
unanimously adopted by the church, the same having been 
recommended by a committee previously appointed, — Rev. 
Mr. Peters, Deacon Calvin Bingham, Deacon Jotham 
French, David Robinson, and Aaron Robinson. 

1 See page 32. 
31 



362 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

In the interval between the dismission of Rev. Daniel A. 
Clark and settlement of Rev. Mr. Hooker, the subject of 
printing the articles of faith having been introduced into a 
church meeting, a committee was appointed to revise them, 
— Aaron Robinson, Deacon Stephen Hinsdill, and Dr. Wil- 
liam Bigelow. This committee recommended new articles 
of faith, which were adopted unanimously Aug. 5, 1881, and 
are those still in use. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

INFLUENCE OF THE EARLY SETTLERS OF VERMONT 
ON FREEDOM OF PUBLIC WORSHIP. 

)AWS OF Massachusetts as affecting the Sepa- 
rates. — It is not denied tliat the civil power was, in 
Massachusetts, applied to the Separates to com- 
pel them to support the public worship of the stand- 
ing order. The principle, in the Cambridge Plat- 
form, that the civil magistrate was, when necessary, 
to enforce conformity in doctrine and worship to the 
word of God, was not repudiated. This principle made 
the civil power, in some sort, a judge of what doctrine and 
worship was agreeable to the word of God. But practically 
that was esteemed to be such which was then prevailing. 
And when the conformity to the word of God was not so 
convincingly seen, or its force as an argument so irresist- 
ibly felt, the consideration — shown by experience to be not 
always well founded — of the greater ease of supporting the 
minister, and building the meeting-house, and keeping it in 
repair, when all in the community united together in one 
way, was readily accepted.^ So late down as 1763 our 
immigrants froru Massachusetts to Bennington showed that 
they understood the fourth paragraph in the eleventh chap- 
ter in the Cambridge Platform, in respect of using the civil 
power to support the gospel ; and also the ninth paragraph 
in the seventeenth chapter, in respect of the civil magis- 
trate's " cohersive " power, to be in force, and that they had 
1 See the succeeding pages. 



364 MEMORIALS OF A CEKTVRT. 

felt their force, when they, in their first church meeting, 
and as a fundamental act, voted to except to these articles, 
receiving the entire platform beside. 

The law enacted in Massachusetts in 1760, requiring a 
university education, or the testimony of a major part of the 
settled ministry of the country that the minister is of suf- 
ficient learning, or making the assessment for his support 
void, was, it is quite likely, aimed at the Separates. With 
this — perhaps with some other — slight exception, the pi"e- 
vailing form in which, in Massachusetts, the Separates felt 
the civil magistrate's coercive power, was that of being 
obliged, under existing general statutes, to pay taxes to the 
regular ministry ; and of being incompetent to collect by 
law any assessment or subscription for their own minister. 
As Separate congregations, distinctively so known, there 
was no relief for them from this, in law, until the adoption 
of the constitution of 1780 ; and even then the instrument 
was so interpreted for years as to make it of comparatively 
little advantage to the Separates. For example, it was 
claimed by the dominant party that the privilege of minor- 
ity worship, without liabilit}^ to pay taxes for the support of 
the standing order, was, b}' this constitutiou, confined to 
incorporated societies, and in case of such incorporated 
society, if not the regular or established societ}?^ of the town, 
they must pay their tax with the others to the collector, and, 
let it go for the parish minister, or recover bacli their por- 
tion for the payment of their own minister b}' suing it out, 
— so decided in 1808, by a decision of the Supreme Court.i 

It is true there were exempting laws, so called (laws 
to exempt certain classes from the tax to support the es- 
tablished worship of the town), but no such law was ever 
passed for the benefit of the Separates. There was an ex- 
empting law as early as 1693, for Boston, by which all 

1 Montague vs. Dedham, 4 Mass., 2C9. 



EXEMPTIXG LAWS. 365 

denominations and religious societies were as free, with 
respect to public worship, as at this day ; and so it has ever 
since been in that city. Exempting laws for five years, 
seven j-ears, eleven j^ears, at a time, first began to be en- 
acted for Episcopalians in 1727 ; for Baptists and Quakers 
in 1728. The differing sects were then very inconsider- 
able.^ But for the New-Light Congfegational churches, in 
towns where the old church remained and was in the ma- 
jority, not only were no exempting laws in favor enacted, 
but especial care was taken, in the re-enacting of such ex- 
empting laws as had been previously obtained, to so guard 
them with new restrictions that the minority Congrega- 
tional churches could by no means take advantage of them. 
There was a portion of the New-Light churches which em- 
braced Baptist views. It was inferred that many did this 
to take advantage of the exempting laws for Baptists. 
Probably this, was true of some. It could not have been 
true of all, for, in many instances, these persons refused to 
comply with the exempting laws as Baptists, assuming that 
they were wrong in principle, so that they could more con- 
scientiously go to prison than give any countenance to 
such laws by voluntar}' conformit}^ to any of their require- 
ments, — the laws requiring certificates that they were of 
the Baptist persuasion, or that their names should be en- 
tered on a list to the same effect, by the proper authority. 
With regard to the period we are now considering, we see 

1 First Baptist church in Massachusetts, in Swansea, 1063. One in Boston as 
early as 1(505. — Benedict. In 1737, but three Baptist cliurclies in Massachusetts ; 
one in Swansea, one in Boston, one in South Brimtield. — Benedict. Backus 
says there was a churcli in Sutton in 17:!5, though it afterward went down; was, 
at the time of tlie Xew-Light stir, turned into a .separate church. When religion 
revived in 1741, there were but nine Baptist cliurclies in all Massachusetts, and 
none in >'ew Hampshire and Vermont. — Backus. There was an- Episcopal 
cluirch in Boston during the Andrus administration, 1080-'J. — Barry. "The 
Methodists made their appearance in the Commonwealtli about 1720." — Mass. 
Ecc. Law, p. 41. 

31* 



3G6 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

an illustration of what has been here said in the titles of 
some of the enactments : — . 

"To the luteDt that the Anabaptists who are truly such may 
be distinguished from those who pretend to be." 

To see the same thing in the enactment itself, take one 
for 1752 : — 

"To exclude all Baptist churches from power to give legal cer- 
tificates, until they obtain certificates from three other Baptist 
churches that they esteem such to be conscientiously Anabap- 
tist." 

The Separate churches, which had adopted immersion as 
the scriptm-al mode of baptism, had not generally denied 
the validity, in eveiy case, of infant baptism and baptism 
by sprinkling, which is, perhaps, the meaning of Anabap- 
tist. The regular Baptist churches might be as jealous of 
these Separate Baptist churches as the regular Congrega- 
tional churches were. So it is plain what was the intention 
and force of such modifications as have been instanced of 
the original exempting laws. 

It is probable that, in very many instances, the laws 
were not enforced upon Separates who refused to pay taxes 
to the Standing Order. As, in many churches (Hardwick 
and Westfield, e. g.), church discipline to the extreme of 
excommunication was not enforced upon separating mem- 
bers who seerned to be conscientious in their views. But 
there were instances sufficient to make manifest the animus 
of the taxing laws themselves, at least as re-enacted from 
time to time. When enforced, the method was one, hap- 
pily, unfamiliar to the present generation in this country, 
but then 'familiar in many relations of the application of the 
civil power other than that of the support of public wor- 
ship. It does not appear that the Separates, as a class, 



TAXING LAWS NOT ALWAYS ENFORCED. 367 

objected, at that early day, to the laws of imprisonment 
for just debts, but they did object to laws of imprisonment 
for refusing to pay taxes to a church they did not in con- 
science approve, — laws which enforced the distraining, in 
some cases, of the necessary implements of household ex- 
istence, for such taxes, from those who had nothing else 
the law could get hold of. In the records of the Newiut 
Separate church is the following entry : " Joseph Read 
confessed the wrong he had done in paying his rates, and 
the church forgave him." 

Backus, who was originally a regular Congregationalist, 
then a Separate, then a Baptist, in his three-volume ecclesias- 
tical histor}', has preserved manj^ cases of much hardship in 
Massachusetts, under the laws requiring the support of the 
regular Congregational Societ3^ Among these sufferers 
were a few instances of Separates,' and many instances of 
those who from Separates became Baptists. Some of these 
suffered according to law, and some without law. There 
were others whom the laws exempted, but they could not, 
as they alleged, in conscience comply with the conditions 
of the exempting laws. The historian of Chelmsford states 
that all separation and all following after itinerants and 
exhorters were effectually repressed there by church disci- 
pline. In many places the Separates, not having organ- 
ized their church regularly, according to law, were harassed 
by taxation for the support of the ministers from whom 
WxQy had seceded. At last the system of annoyance be- 
came too tedious to be continued and fell into disuse. ^ 

II. La"\vs of Vekmoxt kespectikg Public Worship. — 
In respect of imprisonment or any other corporeal pun- 
ishment as a means of compelling men to the performance 

1 Tracy's " Great Awakening," p. 417. See in the notes at tlie end of this vol- 
ume. 



368 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

of religious duty, Vermont has a clean record. Before the 
existence of the State, Christian people in Bennington, as 
we have seen, organizing the first church in what afterward 
became the State of Vermont, made express exception to 
the articles in the Cambridge Platform which affirm the 
duty of the civil power to see that religious matters take 
proper direction. This was while Massachusetts was re- 
enacting her exempting laws with new restrictions to force 
the Separates to pa}' taxes to the Standing Order, and 
whilst Connecticut was not quite through with imprisoning 
men for preaching within the bounds of other men's par- 
ishes, or for establishing new places of public worship with- 
out the consent of the old ones. 

The tax of six dollars on each of the sixty-three rights of 
land, to build, not only the school-house, but, also, the 
meeting-house, might have been without any opposition 
from any of the proprietors. Indeed, whether this tax was 
ever collected does not appear, — neither does anything 
appear to the contrary, only a subscription list for building 
the meeting-house was also obtained. For the further 
finishing of the meeting-house, in 1774, or at least toward 
it, a subscription was also obtained. The moneys from 
time to time raised upon the tax lists were raised from 
those lists only which were voluntarily brought in for that 
purpose. The certificating laws in force for seventeen 
years, 1783-1801, came the nearest to compulsory support 
of public religion. These required every tax-payer to help 
in the support of the public worship favored by tlie majorit}'' 
of the inhabitants, who could not bring a certificate, signed 
by the minister, or deacon, or elders, or moderator of some 
meeting of another persuasion, that the tax-paj-er named 
was of that persuasion. In 1801, any person could be ex- 
empted from taxation for religious purposes by signing a 
paper on the records of the town, saying, " I dissent from 



FIJtST CONSTITUTION. 



3G9 



the worship of the majority." In 1807, even this require- 
ment was abolished,! and ever since the people have been 
free to support the public worship they prefer, or none, if 
they so prefer. 

The article on religious worship in the first constitution 
is as follows : — 

"That all men have a natural and inalienable right to worship 
Almighty God according to the dictates of their own consciences 
and understandings, regulated by the word of God; and that no 
man ought, or of right can be compelled, to attend any religious 
worship, or erect or support any place of worship, or raaiutaiu any 
minister contrary to the dictate of his conscience ; nor can any 
man who professes the Protestant religion be justly deprived or 
abridged of any civil right as a citizen on account of his religious 
sentiment, or peculiar mode of religious worship ; and that no au- 
thority can or ought to be vested in, or assumed by, any power 
whatsoever that shall in any case interfere with, or in any manner 
control, the rights of conscience in the free exercise of religious 
worship ; nevertheless every sect or denomination of people ought 
to observe the Sabbath or Lord's day, and keep up and support 
some sort of religious worship, which to them shall seem most 
agreeable to the will of God." '^ 

In the first constitution, and also in that revised by the 
Council of Censors in 1785, the following declaration is re- 
quired of the members of the House of Representatives : — 

" I do believe in one God, the Creator and Governor of the uni- 
verse, the rev.-arder of the good and puuisher of the wicked. And 
I do acknowledge the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to 
be given by divine inspiration ; and own and profess the Protest- 
ant religion." 

In the revised constitution, adopted in convention at 
Windsor, in 793, this clause was omitted. 

1 See Tolman's Revised Statutes, 1808. 

2 Article 3, in Declaration of Kights in the first constitution, adopted in general 
convention at Windsor, 1777, never presented to the people to be ratified, but de- 
clared to have the force of law by the General Assembly at Bennington, 1779. 



370 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

The public sentiment and understanding with regard to 
the liberty in this State respecting religion — though not 
exactly in accordance with the legislation of the State prior 
to 1801 — was thus stated by Dr. Williams, in his history, 
published in 1794 : — 

" To leave every man a full and perfect liberty to follow the dic- 
tates of his own conscience in all his transactions with his Maker." 
" The people of Vermont have adopted this principle in its fullest 
extent." " It is not barely toleration, but equality, which the peo- 
ple aim at." "That all denominations shall enjoy equal liberty, 
without any legal distinction or pre-eminence whatever." " The 
people are under no obligation to support any teachers but what 
they choose to lay themselves under." 

It is absurd to ascribe the sole agency in a great step of 
progress in civilization to any set of men. Time prepares 
beforehand for its own changes. The reformers, so called, 
are but in advance of others in taking up, and giving ex- 
pression to, the new convictions which generations have 
been slowly preparing for. It is the glory of reformers to 
be before others in discerning the advancing light, or in so 
feeling the force of the truth as to be constrained to utter 
it, to maintain it, when they have to do so alone, and even 
in the face of obloquy and persecution, because others do 
not see, or will not accept, the truth. So high a distinc- 
tion with regard to civil and religious liberty in this coun- 
try deserves to be shared, among others, by the Separates, 
of whom our Bennington pioneers were among the best 
examples. 



CHURCH MEMBERS AND THE ELECTIVE FRANCHISE. 371 



NOTES ON CHAPTEES IV. AND XXVIII. 

I. The Halfway Covbnakt. — By the halfway covenant per- 
sons could be, and were, admitted to the church without professing 
a change of heart, indeed, while professing not to have experienced 
this change, — such persons to come to the communion or not, as 
their duty should appear to themselves.' But all were required to 
assent to a covenant otherwise strict, and to bring their children 
to be baptized. The halfway-covenant members were capable of 
the elective franchise, and eligible to office where church member- 
ship was a requisite.'^ 

"The eflect of this method of proceeding in the churches in 
New England which have fallen into it is actually this. There are 
some who are received into these churches under the notion of 
their being in the judgment of rational charity visible saints, who 
yet at the same time are actually . . . , such as freely and fre- 
quently acknowledge that they do not profess to be as yet born 
again, but look on themselves as really unconverted . , . ; and, 
accordingly, it is known all over the town where they live, that 
they make no pretension to any sanctifying grace already attained ; 

1 ^^ Also that it is your full jnirpose to obey God in the ordinance of the Holy 
Slipper as God shall give you light and show you his will herein." — Cont. Ecc. 
Hist. Conn., p. 411. 

2 This law, making " free burgesses " of church members only, ceased in the 
New Haven colony by the merging of the colony with Hartford, Windsor, and 
Weathersfield in that of Connecticut, under the charter of Charles II., in 1662. 

By the charter of Massachusetts colony (March 4, 1629) the governor and as- 
sistants were empowered to say who should be freemen ; in 1031, this privilege of 
freemen was limited to church members. The rule appears to liave been strictly 
enforced until 1647, when some others beside church members might have the 
privilege of voting in some cases in the towns. In 1660, we find the original rigor 
again enacted in all its completeness by law; in 1664, the law was repealed and 
certain others beside church members admitted to the privileges of freemen, but 
80 that very serious inequality existed still between church members and non- 
church members. In 1684, the colony charter was annulled, and probably the in- 
equality of the law of 1664 between church members and non-church members 
then ceased. All such inequality was removed by the coming into force of the 
Province charter in 1692, which made all freeholders, etc., voters; by whicli, as 
Bancroft says, " in civil affairs, the freedom of the colony, no longer restricted to 
the members of the church, was extended so widely as to be in a practical sense 
nearly universal." 



372 MEMoraALS of a century. 

nor, of conseqneuce, are tliey commonly looked upon as any other 
than unconverted persons." ' 

" In such churches (halfway covenant) neither their publicly 
saying that they avouch God the Father, Son, and Hohj Ghost to he 
their God, and that they give themselves iq) to him, and promise to obey 
all his commands, nor their coming to the Lord's Supper, or to 
any other ordinances, are taken for expressions or signs of any- 
thing belonging to the essence of Christian piety. But, on the 
contrary, the public doctrine, principle, and custom in such 
churches, establishes a diverse use of these words and signs. 
People are taught that they may use them all, and not so much as 
make any pretence to the least degree of sanctifying grace, and this 
is the established custom. So they are used, and so they are un- 
derstood."^ 

" But the fifth of those propositions (seven propositions affirmed 
by the maj.ority of the Synod of 1G62) reaffirmed and commended 
to the churches the crude expedient of the halfway covenant. It 
did not merely provide that baptized persons growing up in the 
church with blameless character, and without any overt denial of 
the faith in which they were nurtured, might ofl'er their children 
for baptism without being required to demand and obtain at the 
same time the privilege of full communion ; but it also provided 
that such persous, as a condition preliminary to the baptism of 
their children, should make a certain public profession of Christian 
faith and Christian obedience, including a formal covenant with 
God and with the church, which, at the same time, was to be un- 
derstood as implying no profession of any Christian experience. 
. . . The latter was a grave theological error hardening and 
establishing itself in the form of an ecclesiastical system."^ 

"It was what Davenport called the ' parish way,' — a system 
under which the local church, as a covenanting brotherhood of 
souls, renewed by the experience of God's grace, was to be merged 
in the parish ; and all persons of good moral character living with- 
in the parochial bounds were to have, as in England and Scotland, 
the privilege of baptism for their households and of access to the 
Lord's table."* 

1 Edwards' Qualifications for Communion, Part iii., Obj. 15. 

2 Edwards' (iualifications for Communion, Part ii., Sec. 1. 

3 Dr. Bacon, in Cont. Ecc. Hist. Conu., pp. 21, 22. 

4 Ibid., pp. 28, 20. 



SPREAD OF THE HALFWAY COVENANT. 373 

The effect of the prevalency of this system is stated by a writer 
in the "Vermont Evangelical Magazine," August, 1SI5, as fol- 
lows : " The engagements which were assumed were extensive 
and solemn, and were at first probal)ly made with much serious- 
ness. But the whole soon became an idle ceremony, which fashion 
so imperious]^'' required all, generally upon their marriage, to ob- 
serve, that the omission was deemed highly indecorous and almost 
inconsistent with a reputable standing in society. The prescribed 
formality having been heedlessly submitted to, nothing more was 
anticipated or exacted. Individuals having gained a sort of rela- 
tion to the church, and the privilege of baptism for their children, 
became satisfied with themselves, and neither saw nor felt the ne- 
cessity of anything beyond the customary and heartless attendance 
upon public worship on the Sabbath." 

A citation or two will show the influence of this system upon 
the piety of the clergy. Dr. Chauncey, in his "Reasonable 
Thoughts on the State of Eeligion in New England," declared, 
" Conversion does not appear to be alike necessary for ministers 
in their public capacity as oflicers of the church,' as it is in their 
private capacity." Tracy, in his " Great Awakening," says, " Col- 
leges received young men, without even the appearance of piety, to 
prepare for the ministry ; if graduates were found to possess com- 
petent knowledge, and were neither heretical nor scandalous, their 
piety was taken for granted, and they were ordained of course. "- 
" The extensively prevailing views of regeneration as a work at- 
tended by no ascertainable evidence discouraged all questioning 
concerning a minister's spiritual state." ^ 

A movement to obtain approbation of this system with some 
other things in a New England Synod took place as far back as 
1657.* A Massachusetts Synod, in 1662, went a little further, in 
giving the system an authoritative introduction into this country. 
" The church at New Haven, I suspect, yielded at, or soon after, 
the ordination of Mr. Pierpont in 1684. Near the close of the cen- 
tury, when Haynes and Whiting had been succeeded by Wood- 
bridge in the First Church (Hartford), and Buckingham in the 
Second, we find both pastors and both churches united in the half- 

1 "Ordinations in 1759 occasioned so much 'feasting, jollity, and revelling,' 
that the Council addressed the clergy a circular on the subject." — JIass, Ecc. 
Law, p. 23. 

2, 8 Ibid., pp. 393, 394. 4 Cont. Ecc. Hist., Conn., p. 19. 

32 



374 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

way covenant method of cliurcli discipline. The principles of the 
Synod of 16G2 were for the time victorious throughout New 
England." ' In 1704^ the Rev. Solomon Stoddard, of Northampton, 
Mass. (the grandfather of Pres. Edwards the elder, and with 
whom at length Mr. Edwards became colleague pastor in the same 
church), when he had been in the ministry at Noi'thfunptou thirty- 
two years, eminently respected, declared himself " of the opinion 
that unconverted persons, considered as such, had a right in the 
sight of God, or by his appointment, to the sacrament of the Lord's 
Supper ; that thereby it was their duty to come to that oi'dinance, 
though they knew they had no true goodness or evangelical holi- 
ness. He maintained that visible Christianity does not consist in 
a profession or appearance of that wherein true holiness or real 
Christianity consists ; that therefore the profession which persons 
make in order to be received as visible members of Christ's church, 
ought not to be such as to express or imply a real compliance 
with, or consenting to, the terms of this covenant of grace, or a 
hearty embracing of the gospel ; so that they who really reject 
Jesus Christ and dislike the gospel way of salvation in their hearts 
and know that this is true of themselves, may make the profession 
without lying and hypocrisy," ^ on the principle that they regard 
the sacrament of the Lord's Supper as a converting oi'dinance, and 
pai'take of it with the hope of conversion. "We must remember 
that the practice of admitting to the communion all persons, 
neither heretical nor scandalous, was general in the Presbyterian 
church, and prevailed extensively among the Congregational 
churches." =* If we place the time of the first foothold of this 
system as early as 1657, we shall find it not wholly disappearing 
from the Orthodox Congregational churches of New England for 
more than a century and a half. From the church in Huntington, 
Conn, (from whose halfway covenant a quotation is introduced 
into these pages), it did not disappear until 1817. The Rev. He- 
man Humphrey was ordained in Fairfield, Conn., March 16, 1807. 
" He found a state of things in Fairfield in regard to spiritual 
religion that seemed to him to call loudly for reform. In addition 
to the fact that such a thing as fiimily prayer was scarcely known 
in the church, there was nothing that he considered as amounting 

1 Dr. Bacon, Cont. Ecc. Hist., Conn., p. 29. 

2 (Quoted from Dr. Hopkins in the Memoirs of President Edwards. 

3 Great Awakening, p. 391. * 



DR. CHAUXCEY S BOOK. 



375 



to a confession of faith ; and there was the halfway covenant, which 
he re^rarded as nothing better than an organized provision for 
uniting the church and the world. The two latter difficulties he 
looked upon as entering vitally into the economy of the church ; 
and he therefore made the removal of them a condition of his 
accepting the call; and the church, without much hesitation, 
acceded to his proposals." ' The spread and influence of the half- 
way covenant probably culminated about IviO, or the time of the 
commencement of "The Great Awakening;" at that time it had 
borne fruit " after its kind" in a wide-spread and deep-rooted for- 
malism in the churches; and, as we shall see in another place, in 
a fearful enlistment of the- civil power in resistance to the "New- 
Light " men and measures that sought its overthrow. 

A curious fact, illustrating the extent to which this false system 
became entrenched in society, is the book of the Rev. Dr. Chauucey. 
well known to have been prepared in opposition to the great 
religious revival then in progress. The friends of the prevailing 
spirit of religious society, and who were opposed to the "New- 
Light " movement, were quicksighted to see whither this awaken- 
ing would tend ; and the book referred to appeared upon the arena 
in their behalf. " A Treatise in five parts : 1. Faithfully pointing 
out the things of a had and dangerous tendency in the late and 
present religious aiypearances in the land, etc., etc.; by Charles 
Chauucey, D.D., pastor of the First Church of Christ in Boston 
1743," — a book of four hundred and twenty-four pages with a pref- 
ace of thirty pages beside. With the book was bound up, as was 
usual in those days, a list of subscribers. This list contains over 
one thousand names, headed conspicuously with Plis Excellency 
William Shii-ley, Esq., captain-general and governor-in-chief over 
His Majesty's Province of the Massachusetts Bay in New Euglaudj 
for six; the Hou. Jonathan Law, Esq., governor of the colony of 
Connecticut; the Hon. Richard Ward, Esq., governor of the 
colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations ; and so on- 
ward into the body of the list, — a proportion of honorables and 
reverends, and esquires, truly formidable, — in accoixlance with 
what is known to be the fact that, to a great extent at that time, 
the influence and learning and rank in the country was on the 
side of the halfway covenant and hostile to the refoi-mation. 

1 Dr. Sprague's notice of the Rev. Dr. Humphrey, President of Amherst Col- 
lege, etc., in " New York Observer" for May 7, 1808. 



376 MEMoraALS of a century. 

II. Special Cases of Hardship unber the Laws of Massa- 
chusetts RESPECTixG Public Worship. — In 1744, Mr. Paiue, of 
Connecticut, for preaching at Woodstock, in Massachusetts, with- 
in the bounds of another minister's parish, was imprisoned at 
Worcester, but the Worcester Court discharged him as being im- 
prisoned without law. 

The Sturbridge case is repeatedly adduced by Backus. It was 
doubtless an extreme case, and its repeated introduction would 
lead us to infer that it had not any other cases parallel to it. It 
will, however, so well illustrate some of the hardships which the 
Separates were liable to endure, it shall be cited here, as given 
in the appendix to the " Life and Times of Isaac Backus," by Hovey 
(p. 329), — or rather, portions of that version of the aflair shall be 
given. " From the testimony of Henry Fisk, we learn that a New- 
Light Church Avas organized in Sturbridge on the 10th of Nov., 
1747. The next year John Blunt was ordained pastor. A petition 
to be exempted from taxes to support the 'regular minister' was 
laid before the town by the members of this church ; but their re- 
quest was denied. On the 26th of May, 1748, a great part 
of the town got together, and laying hold of two brethren wiio 
came from other places (to attend the New-Light meeting) drew 
them in a hostile manner out of town. About this time some 
others were seized for rates, paid them privately and were set at 
liberty. As they went on to rate us fi-om year to year, contrary 

to the royal act of indulgence and the Province laws 

they stripped the pewter from the shelves of such as had it; and 
they took away skillets, kettles, pots, and warming-pans from 
those who had it (the pewter) not. Others they deprived of the 
means by which they got their bread ; namely, workmen's tools 
and spinning- Vv'heels. They drove away geese and swine from the 
doors of others. From some who had C9WS they took one or 
more of them; from some who had but one, they took that 
away. They took a yoke of oxen from one, and they thrust some 
into prison, where they suffered a long and tedious imprisonment. 
One brother was called from us, ordained pastor of a Baptist 
church, and came for his family, at which time they seized and drew 
him away, and thrust him into prison, where he was kept in the 
cold winter till somebody paid the money and let him out. A few 
specifications arc condensed from the records of the church kept 
by Henry Fisk, clerk. In 1750 a spinning-wheel was taken from 



OPPRESSION OF SEPARATES. 



377 



A. Bloice ; five pewter plates from D. Fiske ; a cow from J. Pike ; 
a trammel, audirons, shovel aucl tongs from John Blunt; a cradle 
from J. Perry; goods from Jolm Streeter; household goods from 
Beujamiu Eobins, aud also from H. Fisk; a cow from David 
Morse; goods from Phiueas Collar and from Jolm Newell; and 
during the same year John Corey, J. Barstow, Josiah Perry, Na- 
thaniel Smith, and David Morse were imprisoned for ministerial 

rates ."A narrative of cases, persons, and particulars 

of hardship at a subsequent period of this church's history is also 
given ; but let this suffice. Somewhere about 1750 this became a 
Baptist church. 

Two or three other cases of oppression of Separates shall be given. 
They are cited from Backus' three-volume history. " And among 
the many instances that discovered how tenacious our oppressors 
were of their taxing power to support worship, "take the follow- 
ing : Esther "White, of Raynham, had a small interest left her, for 
which she was taxed eight pence to the parish minister, from 
which she had withdrawn four years, aud she seriously declared it 
was against her conscience to pay it. Therefore for no more than 
that sum she was seized Feb. 28, 1752, and was imprisoned at 
Taunton until March, 1753, when said minister's own people were 
constrained to go aud release her, without her pa}'ing any acknowl- 
edgment to that taxing power. She soon after became a Baptist, 
and continued to give abiding evidence of true piety until she 
died in peace in 1774.' " The case of Framingham, twenty-five 
miles west of Boston, affords another demonstration of the iniquity 
of supporting ministers by tax and compulsion. The Hon. 
Edward Goddard, Esq., formerly one of the council of this prov- 
ince, with other fathers of that town, could not concur with the 
majority in the settlement of a minister, and by the advice of 
other ministers they became an organized church by themselves 
in 1747, and wanted nothing but the sanction of the civil power to 
make them as i-egular and orthodox a religious society in civil law 
as any others were. But as they were zealous friends of the late 
revival of religion, such an incorporation was denied them. And 
they had been all taxed to a minister they never chose for six 
years " (before a publication on the subject quoted in the appen- 
dix to vol. I.). "Three years after, their minister left them, aud 

1 Vol. II., p. 194. 
32* 



378 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

a Baptist society was formed among them." The following lines 
are credited bj' Bacluis to this Hon. Edward Goddard, Esq.. ^ 

" Good conscience men allow, they say, 
But must be understood 
To say as they themselves do say, 
Or else it cau't be good." 

" In a place called Titicut, upon the river between Bridgewater 
and Middleborough, a powerful work was wrought in and after 
the year 1741." " After Titicut precinct was constituted, in Feb., 
1743, ministers refused to dismiss the communicants therein, so 
as to form a new church, lest they should call a minister whom 
they did not appro\'e of. They were thus denied the right which- 
both the laws of God and man allowed them, until the brethren 
determined not to be restrained by such tyranny any longer, but 
came out and began to worship by themselves on Dec. 13, 1747. 
A church was formed Feb. 16, 1748, which increased to three- 
score members in ten months. But the opposite party met in 
March, and voted a large sum of money to finish their meeting- 
house, and to hire other sort of preaching, and assessed it upon 
all the inhabitants. Therefore, our society, on Nov. 21, drew up 
an address to them," — which was answered; "and thej^" — 
the respondents — "went so far as to call it 'gross ignorance 
and enthusiasm' for any to deny that Christian rulers have a right 
to compel their subjects to receive and support orthodox minis- 
ters. And Feb. G, 1740, the author" (Mr. Backus) "was seized 
as a prisoner for thirteen shillings and four pence assessed upon 
him in said tax. But, as he refused to pay it, they, after about 
three Lours' confinement of him, settled it among themselves. 
This was the best reward they offered him for preaching two 
mouths at their request." - " One of his brethren was imprisoned 
at Plymouth for said tax. But, when distress was made upon 
another of his" (Mr. Backus') "hearers, thej' were prosecuted 
therefor, and it was found upon trial that said money was voted 
at an illegal meeting. They therefore appealed to the Superior 
Court; and in the mean time, Dec. 14, 1749, procured an act of the 
Legislature, which says, ' That the proceedings of the meeting, 

1 lb., p. 195. 

2 See this case spread out at large and more intelligibly in Eovcy's Life and 
Times of Backus, pp. C7-~l. 



CONCLUDING REMAItKS ON SEPAMATISM. 379 

mentioned in the petition be, and tliey • hereby are, held and 
deemed good and valid iu law, the defect of the notiticatiou, call- 
ing said meeting, to the contrary notwithstanding.' And, by vir- 
tue of said act, the case was turned against the appellee in the 
next trial ; which shows that a worship supported by tax is par- 
tiality established by law." ' 

III. CoNCLUDixG Remarks on Separatism. — Separatism 
played an important part in probably the most profound religious 
movement hitherto in this country. The depth of the movement 
appears in the fact that it embraced and agitated the whole 
country. To New England, at large, it was what the local revival 
is to a neighborhood or town. It Avas natural th'at such a move- 
ment should develop a party of revolution, and an antagonist 
party of avowed and heated conservatism. It is not difficult to 
see, from the circumstances of the origin of tl^e party of reforma- 
tion, that there would be some rudeness as well as force in it. 
In putting forth the energy such exigencies require, human na- 
ture is not apt to stop before, in its vehemence, it sometimes slips 
beyond the safe limit of law and order. It becomes more intent 
upon the object than it is upon the character of the means by 
which to accomplish the object. Festering corruption within is 
compatible with much precision of outward manners, which re- 
formers, who set themselves against the corruptions of aristo- 
cratic classes, come into opposition to. Such a thing has been as 
declension in piety and justice, even when ecclesiastical institu- 
tions, human learning, and civil government of a high order are 
enjoyed ; and when there is such declension, they who rise up as 
the leaders of reformation are tempted to undervalue these great 
blessings. This was true of the Separatists of the seventeenth 
century in Old England, and of those of the eighteenth century in 
New England. We see this cropping out sometimes in the Ben- 
nington church, though always in the final action of the church 
overborne by moderate counsels. We see the same thing in the 
struggles of Vermont for State sovereigutj-, and in conjunction 
with other States for a national existence in opposition to the 
mother country. Patriotism, the purpose of manly independence, 
was too much on fire to think just then of furnishing to the world 
models of legal precision, and refinement in manners. Hence 

1 Vol. II., pp. 205-208. 



380 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

some features of barbarity in the first essayiugs of this State at 
legislatiou, soon, however, pointed out by wise statesmen in the 
Commonwealth, and soon I'emoved. Hence, too, so much was 
energetically accomplished in the early history of the settlers 
toward order and independence, with only a modicum of legis- 
lation, as is amply illustrated by what is preserved to us of the 
records of the Council of Safety, — "the greatest political curi- 
osity," says Gov. Slade, "which the history of Vermont can 
furnish." ' 

Moreover, while many would be attracted to the general move- 
ment of Separatism, because of its energy in reformation, others 
would join the Separates from less pure motives. Backus says, 
" Such evils liad been practised under the name of learning, 
orthodoxy, and regularity, that many were prejudiced against the 
truth by what others falsely called by those names. Christian 
liberty had been s^ invaded that many ran into licentiousness to 
avoid tyranny. The right which the gospel gives to every saint 
freely to improve their several gifts for mutual edification had 
been so much denied, that frequent instances were now seen of 
persons putting themselves forward in exercises which thej"^ had 
not a gift for, being so earnest to maintain the liberty of speaking 
as not duly to regard others' right of judgiug." - The Separates 
were derided for their uneducated ministry. President Edwards 
complained of their extravagance, self-conceit, and zeal without 
knowledge, — particularly of their exhorters, — and of their 
preaching without license. _ • 

The duty or wisdom of " separating " remains an open ques- 
tion ; how far, in what manner, and when, if at all, the minority 
or the aggrieved party is to go out, and organize a separate wor- 
ship under the plea that they cannot in conscience any longer 
countenance the old church in its errors by remaining in it.^ It is 
not the desire of the writer of these pages, in the case of the Mas- 
sachusetts and Connecticut Separates, to say, whether, under their 
circumstances even. Separatism was the best conceivable method 
of promoting all needed reformation. 

It must, however, be apparent that, as compared with any tame 
acquiescence in the growing evils in the churches, the Separates 

1 State Papers, p. 197. 2 yol. ii., p. 185. 

3 See some remarks upou this question la the Pi-eface to the Cambridge Plat- 
form. 



SEPAItATISM AX OPEN QUESTION. 381 

are to have our approbation. They exerted an energetic influence 
for important reforms which in a sequel of remarkable success 
raay be seen and read of all men. 

If is to be remembered that the persecuting civil and religious 
power, and the unfriendly sentiment arrayed against the Separates, 
were in support of an innovation upon the Puritan principles and 
practipe.' The halfway-covenant practice too nearly resembled 
the custom of the old country, which the primitive settlers of New 
England had intentionally left behind, — not without sacrifice. 
Strange to say, the doctrinal standards in the chui'ches which 
adopted the halfway covenant had not been modified to suit it. 
The articles of faith of the Cambridge Platform, and of the Assem- 
bly's Catechism, ^vere in form neither altered nor repudiated. The 
doctrinal formula was as sharp a statement as ever of the doctrine 
of regeneration. 

So far as Separatism involved denunciation of the Standing Or- 
der churciies as no true churches of Christ, in our opinion it was 
wrong. That in all cases the Separates were innocent of disre- 
garding the rights and feelings of others, it is not here attempted 
to maintain. They, in many instances, perhaps, refused to those 
from whom they came out the same right of private judgment 
and liberty of conscience which they demanded for themselves. 
It is the want of discrimination and charity in condemning others 
which is wrong. The Separates Avere not by any means entirely 
innocent of this. Those especially who continued in the same 
place with the old church from which they had separated had a 
great temptation to uncharitableness. On the contrary, so far as 
the Standing Order churches assumed that the Separatej were not 
responsible to judge for themselves whether they could best wor- 
ship God in a Separate organization, the Standing Order was 
wrong. As to the question of the mutual fellowship of neighbor- 
ing churches, — how intimate it shall be, — it must be decided very 
mucli by the circumstances. It has been well settled, and prob- 
ably will remain so, that no partj^ shall be compulsorily taxed for 
support of one religious society when there is another accessible 
which is prefei'red. This has now of along time been settled this 
side of the Atlantic Ocean, though only just beginning to be ac- 
cepted in the mother country. It has also been settled with us now 

1 See Preface to CambridRe Platform. 



382 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

a good while that no party shall be taxed agaiust his consent for 
the support of any religions society whatever ; and this, too, is well. 

President Edwards, in some passages of his writings, appears to 
disapprove the course of the Separates in separating ; and, yet, in 
other passages to justify them.' He certainly disapproved the 
course of the majority, whensoever it sought to restrain the Sep- 
arates by civil penalties or ecclesiastical discipline. Theve were 
some distinct results of reformation accomplished, which the Sep- 
arates had the perspicacity to see, and the spirit to demand, in 
advance of the most zealous and spiritual, who, like President 
Edwards, preferred to remain with the old churches. President 
Edwards received his fix'st convictions of the unscripturaluess of 
the halfway covenant through the Separates.- 

On the whole, the conclusion is forced upon us that Separatism, 
with other causes added, was, by the overruling providence of 
God made largely promotive of the interests of mankind. 

Briefly to sum up the results : They were in sympathy with and 
did much to promote a revival acknowledged on all hands to be 
one of very remarkable greatness and power. We have seen how 
with regard to the progress of civil and religious liberty thej* were 
quite in the van.^ Against the use of the civil power to enforce 

1 See his Qualifications for Communion, Part ill., Obj. 20; also, his Letter to 
the Rev. Elnathan Wliitman, Hartford, Conn. — A'Vorks of Jonathan Edwards, 
London, 1849, Vol. I., p. cxviii. ; ib., pp. clvi., vii., viii. 

2 " It is certain that the conduct of the Separates (in not approving the halfw.ay 
covenant) received his anxious attention." " He must, therefore, have seen their 
arguments against the admission of hypocrites into the church, and it was not in 
his nature to cast arguments away through prejudice Avithout ascertaining what 
mixture of truth there might be in them." — Great Awakening, p. 400. 

3 " The expedition against Cape Breton, in which Louisburg was taken from 
the French, 174.3, — Col. Pepperell commanding, — was favored by Whitfield; he 
gave them a motto, after much solicitation of Sherburne, the conmiissary, — 
^Christo duce,'' — upon which great numbers enlisted. Separates at Chebacco 

— separated from Pickering — enlisted. Whitfield preached to the troops upon 
their departure. Upon their victory Whitfield preached a thanksgiving sermon." 

— Notes in Great Awakening, p. 67. 

The Bennington battle, as a successful contest of native spirit and vigor against 
odds of culture and of British prestige, was an example of the peculiar spirit and 
success which had marked the career of many of the early settlers of Benning- 
ton from the time they, as Separates, protested in Connecticut and Jfassachu- 
setts against the aristocratic and domineering formalism of the Standing Order 
churches. 

The resistance of the early settlers of Vermont agaiust the attempts of the 



A CONVERTED MINISTRY. 383 

religious conformity they successfully protested. In tlie midst of 
a serious declension iu the mind and practice of the churches from 
the written standards, the Separates rescued, and practically re- 
established, every important doctrinal sentiment of those stand- 
ards. One of the so-called excesses of the revivalists was their 
denunciation of the ministers as unconverted ; but that there was 
too much reason for this has already been shown. The demand 
that a minister should be a converted man was made to appear 
reasonable. Public attention was so strongly fixed upon it that 
the churches and the community came soon to settle it correctly; 
and the correct settlement of this question has practically reached 
all evangelical denominations in the United States. " In some 
instances they were founded on separating from degenerate 
churches and an unconverted ministry, as even charity must ad- 
mit, and were the means of establishing and preserving gospel 
ordinances in their life and power where otherwise there would 
have been only the dead form of religion. Some of them occurred 
where the Christian population was large enough to justify divis- 
ion. Some of them became regular and orderly churches and sub- 
sist to this day. President Clapp, of Yale College, who, in 1742, 
forbade his pupils to attend the Separate meeting at New Haven, 
became an attendant there himself in less than ten years," — now 
the North Church. ^ 

In respect of every important position named, there has been a 
singular unanimity, on the part of the Congregational churches, 
professedly of orthodox faith, in coming over to the ground thus 
in advance taken by the Separates. When the objections to the 
old churches in their minds were thus removed, and there was felt 
to be no other need of the additional church, the Separates readily 
returned to the old church, excepting in those instance iu which 
the Separate church had become Baptist. " They went out from 
us, but they were of us : their return was natural, pleasant to us, 
and honorable both to their candor and to our common religion." * 

New York governors in council to establish their jurisdiction as far east as the 
Connecticut Kiver, was a decisive struggle of republicanism against the spirit of 
aristocracy and monarchy. 

1 Great Awakening, p. 390. 

2 Rev. Dr. McEowen, iu Cont. Ecc. Hist., Conn., p. 281. "The close of the 
Revolutionary struggle found many of the parish churches destitute of pastors, 
and in some of them the lack was not soon supplied. . . . The churches of 
the Standing Order, so called, gradually abandoned the practices which had 



384 MEMOniALS OF A CENTURY. 

The removal of the Beanington settlers away from the viciuity 
of the old churches to uevv seats, would disembarrass them of the 
most serious evils of Separatism. They who came up hither 
had necessarily to found a new church. There was no room for 
any question about the expediency of this. They were under no 
temptation of uncharitable denunciation of any other church in 
the neighborhood, for there was no such church to denounce. > 
And to this day, the few principles they adopted as the basis of 
their church order have been sustained. The repudiation of the 
fellowship of the churches in common, counsel and mutual advice, 
and the idea of lay ordination, were never practically adopted by 
tlie church. As has been seen, in less than a year after its organ- 
ization, it invited a mutual council to convene at Westfleld, Mass., 
to give advice upon the question of the removal of that church 
and its pastor hither. The duty of infant baptism was strenu- 
ously maintained from the outset.'^ "Whatever impracticable pe- 
culiarities of extreme Separatism cropped out in the case of 
individual members gradually disappeared. The counsels of 
moderation and wisdom prevailed. 

IV. Laws of Massachusetts and Connecticut kespecting 
Freedom of Public Worship, compared. — That Massachusetts 
did not proceed to as great length as Connecticut in persecuting 
the Separates has been accounted for in part, and, doubtless, cor- 

grieved the Separates, and, to some extent, adopted the very positions and 

courses wliich their former pastors had condemned The result was 

almost inevitable. Indeed, the reunion of churches began in Canterbury, 
Conn., soon after the close of the Revolution, though not at first completely suc- 
cessful. The same thing was accomplished, at diflerent dates, in several places; 
the last, and one of the most successful instances, being that of North Stoning- 
ton, where, for a number of years, Rev. Joseph Ayer was the minister, at once, 
of the old and of the Separatist church, until their happy union in 1S27."— Rev. 
K. C. Learned in "New Englander" for 1853, p. :^06. 

1 It is a familiar anecdote of the pioneer, Samuel Robinson, Esq., that when 
new-comers presented themselves to him as chief proprietors' agent for the 
lands in tliis region, he wouM inquire of them as to their religious persuasion : 
if Episcopalians, ho would oiler them lands in Arlington; if Baptists, in Shafts- 
bury; if no religious persuasion, in Pownal: but if Congrcgationalists, in Ben- 
nington. — Thompson's Vermont, Part in., p. 19. It may be questioned whether 
this slight partiality in the interest of a denomination was not really adverse to 
that interest and to the interest of true religion. 
2 See record of the first case of discipline after the organization of the church. 



MASSACHUSETTS PmOB TO 1691. 385 

rectlj, by the fact that the charter of 1691, obtained from King 
William III., termed in the account of the Sturbridge case "the 
royal act of indulgence," required toleration of every religious 
persuasion except Papists. " Liberty of conscience in the worship 
of God to all Christians, except Papists, inhabiting, or which shall 
inhabit or be resident within our said province or territorj'." This 
was interpreted to mean that men should not be imprisoned, or 
otherwise punished, for holding meetings by themselves ; and was 
also interpreted not to prohibit some encouragement by law (as, 
for example, enforcing upon the Separates the payment of taxes 
to the Standing Order) of the religion professed by the majority 
of the inhabitants. To nse the language of Mr. Bancroft: "In one 
respect the new charter was an advancement. Kvery form of 
Christianitj^ except, unhappily, the Eoman Catholic, was enfran- 
chised ; and in civil aflairs the freedom of the colony, uo longer 
restricted to the members of the church, was extended so widely 
as to be in a practical sense nearly universal. The Legislature 
continued to encourage by law the religion professed bj' the ma- 
jority of the inhabitants, but it no longer decided controversies on 
opinion, and no Synod was ever again convened." ' Backus says : 
"King Willia.m intended by this charter (of 1C91) to prevent their 
maldug any more persecuting laws, and it had that efl'ect fifty years 
afterward, when Connecticut imprisoned men for preaching the 
gospel, but Massachusetts could not do so." - 

It is necessary to a fair comparison between Connecticut and 
Massachusetts to say, and in justice to Connecticut to recall the 
well-known historical fact that, prior to the coming into force of 
this charter of 1691, Massachusetts had an unenviable distinction 
above Coimecticut in punishing with fines, imprisonments, stripes, 
banishment, and worse, those who were not orthodox according 
to the Massachusetts way. 

CONXECTICUT. — Of the original constitution of the colony of 
Connecticut Bancroft says (remarks that, of course, do not strictly 
apply to the colony of New Haven, which, however, was merged 
in that of Connecticut in 1662) : "Koger Williams had ever been 
a ^^'«lcome guest at Hartford ; and that heavenly man, John Hayues, 

1 Vol. III., p. 80. 

2 History Baptists in New Englaud, lC02-lS04,by Isaac Backus, Vol. i., p. 133. 

33 



386 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

would say to him, ' I thiuk, Mr. Williams, I must now confess to 
you that the most wise God hath provided and cut out this part of 
the world as a refuge and receptacle for all sorts of consciences.' 
There never existed a persecuting spirit in Connecticut." Ban- 
croft quotes Douglas, in a foot-note, as saying, "I never heard of 
any persecuting spirit in Connecticut. In this they are egregiously 
aspersed." ' He adds, further on : " During the intervening cen- 
tury (Connecticut's first century) we shall rarely have occasion to 
recur to Connecticut. Its institutions were perfected. For more 
than a century peace was within its borders ; and with transient 
interruptions its democratic institutions were unharmed. For a 
century, with short exceptions, its history is the picture of colo- 
nial happiness. To describe its condition is but to enumerate the 
blessings of self-govei'ument, as exercised by a community of farm- 
ers, who have leisure to reflect, who cherish education, and who 
have neither a nobility nor a populace." ^ 

While the third article of the bill of rights of the new constitu- 
tion (1780) of Massachusetts was not generally interpreted until 
an enabling statute (in 18 11)^ to give to every religious congrega- 
tion, whether incorporated or not, their own taxes for the support 
of religion, Connecticut passed an unequivocal act to this eflect in 
1784. And whereas this third article of the bill of rights was not 
abolished in Massachusetts until 1833, Connecticut adopted a con- 
stitution, in 1818, which in principle left every one free to adopt 
some religion, or no religion, as they should be pleased to do ; and 
pay a tax for public worship, only upon voluntary connection with 
some religious society, — thus obtaining complete religious free- 
dom, the ground which the Separates took, and for which chiefly 
they separated from the Standing Order as far back as 1730. The 
constitution of Massachusetts was revised in 1820, and an attempt 
was made at that time to have the third article of the bill of rights 
abolished, by which Massachusetts would have been put on the 
same footing with Connecticut, but it failed. The attempt was 
again made in 1833, and was successful.'* 

1 Vol. II., pp. 56, 67. 2 Ibid., pp. CO, Cl. 

3 Buck's Mass. Ecc. Law, pp. 43, 45. 

4 " So unanimous liad tlie dissatisfacfiou become, that, in 1834, an amendment 
of the third article of the bill of rights was adopted, by -which the ancient 
policy of the Commonwcaltli, derived from the mother country, steadily main- 
tained for two hundred years, was entirely abandoned." — Buck's Mass. Ecc. 
Law, p. C4. 



PURITANS OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY. 387 

V. Justice to the Puritans of Massachusetts Bay. — lu 
what has been said in this volume respecting the laws of Connect- 
icut and Massacliusetts, in their bearing upon the Separates, the 
case has been stated strongly against them; not, however, with 
the least feeling of prejudice against the fathers of New England, 
but simply to account for the course of the Separates, to whom, 
as a class, so many of the early settlers of Bennington belonged. 

With regard to the spiritual degeneracy of the churches, in con- 
nection with the culmination of the halfway covenant folly, the 
writer has no apology to offer for them. Such backslidings, how- 
ever, have, from time to time, disgraced professed Christianity in 
all ages of its history; and the sad story of such degeueracies 
should be pondered by us, so as to impress the admonition of 
Scripture, " "Wherefore let him that thinketh he staudeth take 
heed lest he fall." But with respect to the principle of the en- 
forcement of religious conformity, particularlj' in the matter of 
public worship, some words of explanation should be added, in 
justice to the Puritans; though they were but men, and, as such, 
to be seen in the light of their imperfections as well as their 
virtues. 

The Puritans did not believe, did not profess to believe, in free- 
dom of religious worship. They did not profess to be Separatists 
as to the Church of England. There were instances, indeed, in the 
mother country, of their standing in an attitude of severe antag- 
onism toward the Separatists. (The Pilgrims who came in the 
Mayflower, and settled in Plymouth, were Separatists, of that 
day, and believed in entire freedom of conscieuce as to religious 
worship, and remained so while they lived, though the influence 
of the Plymouth colony was gradually overborne by that of the 
more powerful colony of Massachusetts Bay, and of the con- 
federation, afterward, of the colonies of Plymouth, Massachusetts, 
Connecticut, and New Haven.) 

Moreover, take them as they were, how far in advance were 
they of their times ? Let such imperfections as there were in their 
knowledge and attainments be viewed in contrast with the greater 
imperfections and far deeper ignorance of the times at large, and 
of their own early education. Their faults loere not so much faults 
of the men as of the times. Let it be remembered that the daylight 
of freedom of public worship, as to compulsory taxation, has not 
yet come in England, — only a faint twilight betokening, now at 



388 MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY. 

length the approach of day ; and it may be the better understood 
how deep was the darkness a century and a half ago. 

The purpose of the Puritan fathers, to maintain, as a parish, 
public worship, at all hazards, as a foremost duty and interest of 
the community, is to be charged with much of their proceedings 
toward the minority who refused to assist in supporting the public 
worship of God with the majority of the town. This principle 
has run through all the ecclesiastical legislation of Massachusetts, 
dominating every opposing principle and interest, until its power 
was felt, most seriously of all, by those who came to be in the 
minority, as against the Unitarians, and were themselves refused, 
in the courts, any of the property of the old society. This subject 
is fully set forth by Buck in his "Massachusetts Ecclesiastical 
Law." Our Puritan fathers believed it was necessary to com- 
pel unwilling ones to assist the willing; and they were slow to 
believe that a parish had become sufficiently large to maintain more 
than one meeting; and they felt no security that that meeting 
would be maintained uuless severe measures of coercion were 
employed upon such as otherwise would refuse to co-operate with 
them. 

"The confederate commissioners of the New England colony 
from 1643 to 1607, maintained a cai'eful supervision of the religious 
condition of each colony. They distributed Bibles, they conducted 
missions to the Indians on a scale unknown before their time, be- 
side settling the very difficult questions of public law relating to 
war, boundary, and jurisdiction, on high Christian principles, 
without precedents to guide them." ' 

"The General Court, as early as 1054, held it to be their 'great 
duty to provide that all places and people within their gates should 
be supplied with an able and faithful minister of God's holy 
word.'" " Presidents of county courts and grand juries were to 
present all abuses and neglects, and to attend to the orders of the 
General Court concerning the maintenance of the ministry, and 
the purging of their towns from such ministry and public preach- 
ers as should be found vicious in their lives, and perniciously het- 
erodox in their doctrine. So strictly were these mattei'S attended 
to, that we have, in 1800, the exact penalties which towns should 
pay for neglecting to supply good preaching to the people. If 
the neglect lasted for three mouths out of six, the penalty was 
1 Mass. Ecc. Law, p. 23. 



PVRITANS OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY. 389 

from thirty to sixty dollars ; if repeated, the penalty was from sixty 
to one hundred dollars.'" The General Court also had a care 
over the attendance npon public worship. "At common law, it 
was an ofience to be absent from public worship ; and by statutes, 
1 Elizabeth, ch. 2, absentees, without excuse, were liable to the 
censures of the church, and a fine of twelve pence." A line might 
be imposed for delinquency until 1835.'- 

Some traces of this feeling of misgiving lest public worship 
could not be maintained without some assistance of the civil 
power is seen even in the first constitution and early legislation 
of Vermont. 

It is even now claimed, by some authors for the infant colony 
of Massachusetts, 5 that the excluding of heterogeneous sects was 
a measure of necessity, on the principle that self-preservation is 
the first law of nature. Undoubtedly thus reasoned the fathers 
of the Massachusetts colony. The early history of Connecticut 
colony, and, indeed, of infant communities in the new States, in 
our own time, would seem, however, to disprove such reasoning. 

Besides, if they degenerated, out of their own loins, from among 
their own churches and communities, came forth those who saw 
the truth, and led up the others and mankind to a higher plane. 

The instances of exceedingly severe treatment — such as if in- 
flicted now would be considered outrageous and diabolical in every 
sense — were sporadic cases, — effects of sudden and overpower- 
ing excitement in the conununity. They were not the normal 
and abiding results of the spirit of the people and the community 
as a whole. 

In the " Massachusetts Ecclesiastical Law," p. 3G, the author 
justly says, in a note, " It would seem that the harsh moods of 
our ancestors, in the case of the Quakers and witches, hardly 
lasted two years. We might look in vain for a swifter return to 
common sense, after a national exciten^ent." 

Another* has said of Massachusetts, '• The wild excesses of the 
people in preventing witchcraft, in 1{)92, destroyed nearly every 
trace of belief in ghosts and such things." 

Of the law of 1742, in the General Assembly of Connecticut, 
" For regulating abuses and correcting disorders in ecclesiastical 

1 Mass. Ecc. Law, pp. 20, 27. 2 Mass. Ecc. Law, p. 27. 

3 See Palfrey's remarks on this point in his History of Xew England, 
1 Goodrich Hist. United States, 
33* 



390 MEMORIALS OF A CEKTURY. 

affairs," aud ■wliicli imposed penalties ou itiueraut preachers and 
exhorters, it lias been well declared, '• It was a high-handed iu- 
frin|i;emeut of the rights of conscience, and in a few years fell 
and buried the party which enacted it in ruins." ' The reaction 
against this persecuting course was as violent as the adoption of 
the course itself. It intensified the spirit of Separatism, and an 
accelerated progress of religious liberty ensued. 

The constant tendency of human nature is to degenerate, while 
the church of God in the world, with all its reactions aud back- 
slidings, still brings forth from within itself those who lead man- 
kind up to successively higher planes of civilization, goodness, 
intelligence, and happiness. "Even so every good tree bringeth 
forth good fruit; but a corrupt ti'ee bringeth forth evil fruit." 
See the Pilgrims lauding on Plymouth Kock, in 1620, and the 
Puritans settling in Salem and Boston, in 1G30, and consider what 
New England is to-day, aud what its influence in the world has 
already been. 

In tracing, therefore, the course of legislation in the States 
named, with regard to freedom of religious worship, the object of 
the writer has been simplj' historical infoi'mation upon an inter- 
esting, important, and little understood subject, and justice to 
all, while he still retains the most profound respect for our Pil- 
grim aud Puritan forefathers. 

1 Great Awakening, p. 238. 



II 



APPEIsTDIX. 



A. 

The Charter of Bennington. 

The following is a copy of the original instrument in the town clerk's office. 
Upon the back of the charter are the names of the grantees, including the min- 
ister as one, and the school as another, and the name of Governor Wentworth 
occurs twice. Accompanying the charter is a plan of the township, in sixty- 
four squares, to designate the rights, with the name of its proprietor on each 
square, as the rights were severally drawn by lot " by the agents, for the pro- 
prietors in Portsmouth, Jan. 10, ViO; and were entered by the secretary of said 
province upon this plan ; each man taking his chance whose name stands in the 
schedule annexed to the grant of said township."] 

Province of 
JN'eio Hampshire. 

George the Second, by tlie Grace of God, of Great 
Britain, Frauce, aud Ireland, King, Defender 
of the Faith, &c. 

^■jy.v/i-/y.u:r.^ To all persons to whom these presents shall come, 
I Seal. I Greeting. Know ye, That We, of our especial grace, 
W.v5-..^-^-§ certain knowledge, and mere motion, for the due en- 
couragement of settling a new plantation within our said province, 
by and with the advice of our trusty and well-beloved Benning 
Wentworth, Esquire, our Governour and Commander-in-Chief of our 
said province of New Hampshire, in America, aud of our Council 
of the said province, have, upon the conditions and reservations 
hereinafter made, given and granted, and by these presents for us, 
our heirs and successors, do give and grant in equal shares unto 
our loving subjects, inhabitants of our said province of New 
Hampshire, and his Majesty's other governments, aud to their 



392 APPENDIX. 

heirs and assigns forever, wliose names are entered in tliis grant, 
to be divided to and amongst tliem, into sixty-four equal sliares. 
All that tract or parcel of land, situate, lying, and being Vvithiu 
our said province of New Hampshire, containing, by admeasure- 
ment, twenty-three thousand and forty aci'es, which tract is to 
contain six miles square and no more, out of which an allowance 
is to be made for highways and unimprovable lands, by rocks, 
mountains, ponds, and rivers, one thousand and forty acres, free 
according to a plan and survey thereof, made by our said Govern- 
our's order, by Matthew Clesson, surveyor, returned into the Sec- 
retary's office and hereunto annexed, butted and bounded, as fol- 
lows, viz. : Beginning at a crotched hemlock tree niarked AV.W., six 
miles due north of a white oak tree, standing in the northern bound- 
ary line of the province of the Massachusetts Bay, twenty-four 
miles east of Hudson's river, marked M. C. I. T., and from said hem- 
lock tree west ten degrees, north four miles to a stake and stones, 
which is the south-west corner, and from said stake and stones 
north ten degrees east, six miles to a stake and stones, which is 
the north-west corner, and from said stake and stones east ten 
degrees south, six miles to a stake and stones, which is in the 
north-east corner, and from thence south ten degrees west, six miles 
to a stake and stones, which is the south-east corner, and from 
thence west ten degrees north, two miles to the crotched hemlock 
first mentioned; and that the same be and hereby is incorporated 
into a township by the name of Bennington; and the inhabitants 
that do, or shall hereafter inhabit the said township, are hereby 
declared to be enfranchised with, and entituled to, all and every the 
privileges and immunities that other towns within our province by 
law exercise and enjoy. And further, that the said town, as soon as 
there shall be fifty families resident and settled thereon, shall have 
the liberty of holding two fairs, one of which shall be held on tlie 
first Monday in the month of March, and the other on the first Mon- 
day in the month of Septembej', annually, which fairs are not to con- 
tinue and be held longer than the respective Saturdays following the 
said Mondays; and that, as soon as the said town shall consist of 
fifty families, a market shall be opened and kept one or more days 
in each week, as may l)e thouglit most advantageous to the inhab- 
itants. Also, that the first meeting for the choice of town officers, 
agreeable to the laws of our said province, sliall be Iield on the 
last Wednesday of March next, which said meeting shall be uoti- 



THE BENNINGTON CHARTER. 393 

fled by Colonel William Williams, who is hereby also appointed 
moderator of the said first meeting, which he is to notify and 
govern agreeably to the law and custom of our said province. 
And that the annual meeting forever hereafter for the choice of 
such officers, for the said town, shall be on the last Wednesday of 
March annually. 

To have and to hold the said tract of land as above expressed, 
together with all privileges and appurtenances, to them, and their 
respective heirs and assigns forever, upon the following condi- 
tions, viz. : — 

. . That every grantee, his heirs or assigns, shall plant and 
Imprimis. ^ ^ ' "^ ' ^ ^ 

cultivate five acres of land within the term of nve 

years for every fifty acres contained in his or their share or pro- 
portion of land in said township, and continue to improve and 
settle the same by additional cultivation, on penalty of the forfeit- 
ure of his grant or share in the said township, and of its reverting 
to his majesty, his heirs and successors, to be by him or them re- 
granted to such of his subjects as shall ett'ectually settle and cul- 
tivate the same. 

That all white and other pine trees within the 'said 
Secundo. , . „ „ . , , ^ ,i 

township, fit for masting our royal navy, be careiully 

preserved for that use, and none to be cut or felled without his 
majesty's especial license for so doing, first had and obtained on the 
penalty of the forfeiture of the right of such grantee, his heirs, or 
assigns, to us, our heirs or successors, as well as being subject to 
the penalty of any act or acts of Parliament that now are or here- 
after shall be enacted. 

That before any division of the said land be made to 
and among the grantees, a tract of land, as near the 
centre of said township as the laud will admit of, shall be re- 
served and marked out for town lots, one of which shall be allotted 
to each grantee of the contents of one acre. 

Yielding and paying therefor to us, our heirs and suc- 
^uai o. ,,gggy^.Sj for the space of ten years, to be computed from 
the date hereof, the rent of one ear of Indian corn only, on the 
twenty-fifth day of December, annually, if lawfully demanded, the 
first payment to be made on the twenty-fifth day of December 
next ensuing the date hereof. 

Ecery proprietor, or settler, or inhabitant, shall yield 
o. ^^^ p^^^ unto us, our heirs and successors, yearly and 



394 APPENDIX. 

every year forever, from and after the expiration of ten years from 
the date hereof, namely, on the twenty-fifth day of December, 
Tphich will be in the year of our Lord 17G0, one shilling proclama- 
tion money, for every hundred acres he so owns, settles, or pos- 
sesses, and so in proportion for a greater or lesser tract of the 
said land, which money shall be paid by the respective persons 
above said, their heirs, or assigns, in our council chamber in 
Portsmouth, or to such officer or officers as shall be appointed to 
receive the same, and this to be in lieu of all other rents and ser- 
vices whatsoever. 

In testimony whereof we have caused the seal of our said prov- 
ince to be hereunto affixed. Witness, Benning "Wentwortii, Esq., 
our Governor, and Commander-in-Chief of our said provinces, 
the third day of January, in the year of our Lord Christ one thou- 
sand seven hundred and forty-nine, and in the twenty-third year of 
our reign. B. Wentworth. 

By his Excellency's command, with advice of the Council. 

Theodore Atmnson, Esq. 

State of Vermont, Surveyor-General's Office, 
Sunderland, December 13tli, 17(i5. 

Recorded in the first book for chartei's of the New Hampshire 
grants, pp. 193, 194, 195. I. Allen, Secretary-General. 



Allen and Warner. 

By successful acts of adventurous heroism, — foremost among 
which was the taking of Ticouderoga, with his small handful of 
men, "in the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Con- 
gress, " — Ethan Allen has gained a conspicuous place in the an- 
nals of Vermont. He is fairly entitled to the admiration he has 
received, on account of the remarkable warmth of his nature, 
the irresistible popular force, for a time, of his writing and speak- 
ing, and his distinguished activity, daring, and enterprise in the 
public service. Two or three characteristic anecdotes are here 
introduced. 

He was once sued upon a promissory note for sixty pounds, 
and as it was not convenient for him to meet a judgment, he em- 
ployed a lawyer to procure a continuance. As the readiest means 



ETHAN ALLEN. 395 

for this, the lawyer determined to deny the signature. The at- 
testing witness would then be necessary, and as he lived in 
Boston, and could not be procured in season, a continuance would 
be inevitable. When the case was called, Allen happened to be 
present, and, to his astonishment, he heard his lawyer gravely 
deny the signature of the note. With long strides he made his 
way through the crowd, and, confronting the amazed attorney, 

rebuked him in a voice of thunder: "Mr. , I did not hire 

j'ou to come here and lie. That is a true note ; I signed it, I'll 
swear to it, and I'll pay it. I want no shuffling, but I want time. 
What I employed you for was to get this business put over to 
the next Court, not to come here and lie and juggle about it." 
It is needless to say he got the continuance.' 

Two little girls, seven and four years of age, had wandered into 
the woods. Not returning, and night about setting in, the 
parents, fearing they had fallen a prey to the wild beasts then 
infesting the forests, with the aid of a few neighbors commenced 
a search, which was continued through the night, and the next 
day, joined by large numbers from that and adjacent towns, and 
was prosecuted until mid-afternoon of the third day, when, worn 
out by fatigue, and despairing of finding the lost wanderers aliye, 
the men had collected together with the view of returning to 
their home; but among them was Ethan Allen. He mounted a 
stump, and, in a manner peculiar to himself, pointed first to the 
father and then to the mother of the lost children, now petrified 
with grief, and admonished each individual present — and 
especially those who were parents — to make the case of these 
parents his own, and then say whether they could go contentedly 
to their homes without making one further eflbrt to save these 
dear little ones who were probably now alive, but perishing with 
hunger, and spending their last strength in crying to father and 
mother to give them food. As he spoke his giant frame was 
agitated, and tears rolled down his cheeks ; and in the assembly 
of several hundred men but few eyes were dry; whereupon all 
manifested a willingness to return. The search being renewed, 
before night of the same day the lost children were found, and 
restored in safety to the arms of distracted parents.^ 

When Col. Allen was captured at Montreal, by the British, with 
his party of Canadians, order was given that thirteen of these 

1 Vermont Record. 2 Vermont Hist. Mag. Article, Sunderland. 



396 APPEXDIX. 

Canadiaus should be thrust through with bayonets. "It cut me 
to the heart," he says, " to see the Canadians in so hard a case, in 
consequence of their having been true to me ; they were wringing 
their hands, saying their prayei's (as I concluded), and expected 
immediate death. I therefore stepped between the executioners 
and the Canadians, opened my clothes, and told General Prescott 
to thrust his bayonet into my breast, for I was the sole cause of 
the Canadians' taking up arms ; the guard in the mean time roll- 
ing their eyeballs from the General to me, as though impatiently 
waiting his dread commands to sheathe their bayonets in my 
breast. I could, however, plainly discern that he was in a sus- 
pense and quandary about the matter. This gave me additional 
hopes of succeeding; for my design was not to die, but to save 
the Canadians by a finesse.'' ^ 

In the progress of the New York controversy, several pamphlets 
were written by Allen, as well as letters of official correspondence 
with the opposing party, exhibiting, in a manner peculiar to him- 
self, and well suited to the state of public feeling, the injustice of 
the New York claims. These pamphlets were extensively circu- 
lated, and contributed much to inform the minds, arouse the zeal, 
and unite the efforts of the settlers.'^ 

When Col. Allen had been released from his long captivity, in 
exchange for Colonel Campbell, Allen paid a visit to the American 
camps at Valley Forge, where he had much to tell of his various 
vicissitudes and hardships. Washington, in a letter to the Presi- 
dent of Congress suggesting that something should be done for 
Allen, observes : " His fortitude and firmness seem to have 
placed him out of the reach of misfortune. Thei'e is an original 
something about him that commands admiration, and his long 
captivity aud sufl'erings have only served to increase, if possible, 
his enthusiastic zeal. He appears very desirous of rendering his 
services to the States, and of being employed." ^ 

Seth Warner, Allen's comrade in so many adventures, and in so 
much public service, without attempting, perhaps incapable of, 
rhetorical effects by his tongue and pen, possessed more breadth 
of character, more prudeuce and judgment, aud yet no less deter- 
mination and courage, than Alleu. When the peculiar occasions 
for adventurous daring had passed by, Warner rose to a higher 

1 Ethan Allen's Narrative, p. 36. 2 Gov. Slade, in State Tapers, p. 36. 

3 Irving's Life of Washington, Vol. ill., p. 3~S. 



ALLEN AND WAHNER. 397 

degree of respect in the pi;blic miucl, while Providence appeared 
to have denied to Allen opportnuitj^ for achieving further reuown. 
"As a military leader, "Warner was honored and confided in above 
all others by the people of this State, and his bravery and military 
capacity appear to have been always appreciated by the intelli- 
gent officers from other States with whom he served. In the dis- 
astrous retreat from Canada, in the spring of 1776, he brought up 
the rear ; and he was placed in command of the rear-guard on the . 
evacuation of Ticonderoga, by which he was involved in the 
action at Hubbardton. At Bennington he was with Stark for 
several days before the battle, and was his associate in planning 
the attack upon Baum, and in carrying it into execution ; and it 
was by his advice and contrary to the first impression of Stark 
that Brej'man was immediately opposed without first retiring to 
rally the scattered forces." ^ 

" It is evident that they " — Allen and Warner — " were far more 
efllcient and more useful in defending the New Hampshire Grants, 
than they would have been, had they both been Aliens, or both 
been "Warners ; and it would not be extravagant to say, that, had 
either been wanting, the independence of "Vermont might not 
have been achieved. But in selecting a person to command a 
regiment, the men of that day gave the preference to "Warner. 
Accordingly the convention assembled at Dorset to nominate 
ofticers for a regiment of Green Mountain Boys, nominated "War- 
ner for lieutenant-colonel to command the regiment, by a vote of 
forty-one to five. And as Allen was candidate for the oflice, as 
appears by his letter to Governor Trumbull, written shortly after 
the officers were nominated, in which he says, that he was over- 
looked because the old men were reluctant to go to war, the vote 
must be considered as a fair expression of the public sentiment 
in relation to the qualifications of the two men for the office." '^ 

1 Vermont Hist. Mag. 

2 Quoted from Chipman's Life of Warner in Mr. Houghton's Moutpelier Ad- 
dress. 

U 



398 APPENnix. 

C. 

Covenant of the Bennington Pirst Church. 

[The greater probability is that this instrument was adopted and signed not 
at, but witliin two or three years after, the organization of the church. See p. 
39 of this volume.] 

We whose names are unclerwritten, apprehending ourselves 
called of God into church state of the gospel, do, first of all, con- 
fess ourselves unworthy to be so hlglily favored of the Lord; and 
admire that rich and free grace of his, which triumphs over so 
great unworthiness ; and then, with an humble reliance on the 
grace therein promised for those who, in a sense of their inability 
to do any good thing, do humbly wait on him for all, — we now 
thankfully lay hold of his covenant; and would choose the 
things that please him. 

We declare our serious belief of the Christian religion as con- 
tained in the sacred Scriptures, and with such view thereof as the 
Confession of Faith and Kules of Discipline in Cambridge Plat- 
form has exhibited, — heartily resolving to conform our lives unto 
the rules of that holy religion so long as we live in the world. 
We give ourselves unto the Lord Jehovah, who is the Father, and 
the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and avouch him this day to be our 
God, our Father, and our Saviour, and our Leader ; and receive 
him as our portion forever. We give up ourselves unto the 
blessed Jesus, who is the Lord Jehovah ; and adhere to him as the 
head of his people in the covenant of grace ; and rely on him as 
our Priest, and our Prophet, and our King, to bring us unto eter- 
nal blessedness. We acknowledge our everlasting and indispen- 
sable obligation to glorify God in all the duties of a godly, a sober, 
and a righteous life, and very particularly in the duty of a church 
state, — a body of people associated together for an obedience to 
him in all the ordinances of the gospel ; and we hei'ein depend 
upon his gracious assistance for our faithful discharge of the du- 
ties thus incumbent on us. We desire, and intend, and with de- 
pendence upon his powerful grace we engage, to walk together 
as a church of the Lord Jesus Christ in the faith and order of the 
gospel so far as we shall have the same revealed to us, — consci- 
entiously attending the public worship of God, the sacraments 
of the New Testament, the discipline of his kingdom, and all his 
holy institutions in communion with one another, and watchfully 



OLD CHURCH COVENANT. 



399 



avoiding all sinful stumbling-blocks, as become a people whom the 
Lord hath bound up together in the bundle of eternal life. 

At the same time, also, we do present our ofl'spring with us to 
the Lord, purposing with his help to do our part in the methods 
of a religious education that they may be the Lord's. And all 
this we do flying to the blood of the everlasting covenant for the 
pardon of our many errors ; and praying that the glorious Lord, 
who is the great Shepherd, will prepare and strengthen us for every 
good work to do his will, working in us that which will be well 
pleasing in his sight — to whom be glory forever and ever. 
Amen. 



John Roberts 

Samuel Robinson 

James Fay 

Benjamin Harwood 

George Abbott, Jun. 

Jedidiali Rice • 

James Breakenridge 

Oliver Rice - 

James Fay, Jr. 

David Doane 
"John Fassett 

Daniel Fay 

Ichabod Stratton 

William Breakenridge 

Benjamin Whipple 

Eleazer Harwood 

Samuel Pratt 

Jonathan Scott 

Elisha Field 

Samuel Montague 

Elizabeth Scott 

Experience Richardson 

Rebekah Abbott 

Lydia Fay 

Marcy Robinson 
. Baty Pratt 

Bridget Harwood 

Elizabeth Roberts 

Elizabeth Fisk 

Elizabeth Pratt 

Peace Atwood 

Prudence "Whipple 

Martha Abbott 



Mehitable Fay 
Hannah Rice . 
Elizabeth Fay 
Marcy Newton 
Hepzibah AVhippIe 
Joseph Safford 
Stephen Story 
Bethiah Burnham 
Eleanor Smith 
Aaron Leonard 
John Wood 
Zechariah Harwood 
Timothy Abbott 
Esther Breakenridge 
Elijah Story . 
— Mary Fassett 
Martha Wickwire 
Martha Montague 
Jonathan Scott, Jr. 
Jonathan Eastman 
Elizabeth Harwood 
Daniel Scott 
Silas Robinson 
Elizabeth Eastman 
Sarah Story 
Simeon Harmon , 
Robert Cochran 
Mary. Cochran 
Bettey Dewey 
Anna Walbridge 
Daniel Mills 
Mindwell Hopkins 
Rhoda Hopkins 



[One quarter sheet of subscribers' names — probably thirty — was lost. — 
William Haswell.] 



400 APPENDIX. 

D. 

Articles of the Newestt (Contst.) Sep.\iiate Church.' 

1. We believe that there is one only glorious God, a Being 
from Himself and for Himself, of Whom, and for Whom, are all 
things ; Who is Infinite, eternal, unchangeable in power, wisdom, 
goodness, justice, holiness and truth. 

2. That there are Three Sacred Persons in the Godhead. God 
the rather, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. Equally God, 
and yet but one God. 

3. That God hath, from all eternity, foreordained what shall 
come to pass, and did not only foresee, but did foredetermine the 
eternal states of men and angels. 

4. That there is a general Providence which is exercised about 
all things, and that there is a special government of God over all 
the rational Creation. 

6. That God made angels and men in holiness ; but some of the 
angels abode not in the truth, who are called devils. 

6. That God gave to man, when he had made him, a rule of 
obedience for life, and threatened death in case of disobedience ; 
which rule for obedience our first parents transgressed, by eating 
the forbidden fruit, and we transgressed in them, and so death 
passed on all men. 

7. That the sin of our first parents is the sin of all mankind by 
just imputation and derivation, and from the whole, all descending 
from them by ordinary generation, do naturally choose and prac- 
tise sin. 

8. That God, having eternally elected some of mankind to life, 
did, in the fulness of time, send his Son to redeem them, and that 
God the Father and God the Son did send the Holy Ghost to sanc- 
tify them. 

9. We believe that Jesus Christ, taking our nature upon him 
as Mediator between God and man, hath made full satisfaction to 
God for the sins of the elect, and purchased life for them by the 
mei'its of his active and passive righteousness, aud having re- 
ceived all power from God the Father, doth, in the execution of 
his prophetical, priestly, aud kingl}' offices, reveal uuto, aud work 
in, his elect, whatever is necessary for salvation. 

1 See p. 54 of this volume. 



NEJ\1NT CHURCH ARTICLES. 



401 



10. That in the new covenant, God hath promised life to all 
those that, with the full consent of their souls, believe in him 
through Jesus Christ, and that the object of justifying faith is 
Christ in his person and offices as he is revealed in the Gospel, 
and by union to Christ, by faith believers are made partakers of 
his Sonship, grace, and glory, so that through free grace in Christ 
they are justified, adopted, and sanctified, and shall enjoy eternal 
life. * 

11. We believe the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to 
be the record of God, by the dispensation of which, and through 
which, with the co-operation of the Holy Spirit, conviction of sin 
and misery is given, a knowledge of, and a particular faith in 
Christ is begotten, repentance, love, and new obedience is caused 
in the elect. 

12. We believe that the moral law in the hand of Christ is the 
rule of obedience for believers, and that the sum of this law is to 
love the Lord our God with all our heart, etc., and our neighbor 
as ourselves. 

13. We believe that there are two seals of the covenant of 
grace, namely, Baptism and the Lord's Supper. That Baptism 
belongs to none but true believers who are received by faith and 
love, and their seed in their infancy, and is a sign of our entrance 
into Christ ; and the Lord's Supper is a sign of our growth in 
grace. 

14. We believe in the communion of saints, the resurrection of 
the body, and the life everlasting. Amen. 

Our covenant with God and one with the other ^is as fol- 
lows : — 

1. We do each of us in particular unfeignedly resign up our- 
selves and our seed to the Lord Jehovah, Father, Son, and Holy 
Ghost, receiving Jesus Christ as very God and very man, and the 
only mediator between God and man, as our Lord and Saviour, 
freely given of God to each of us in particular and sealed to each 
of us in particular, by the Holy Spirit of promise, relying upon the 
free grace of God for that salvation and blessedness which he hath 
purchased, and we hope to have by faith in and dependence upon 
himself, and we do submit ourselves to the word and Spirit of God 
to be ruled and thereby to be sanctified. 

2. We do acknowledge ourselves indispensably bound and 

34* 



402 



APPEXDIX. 



will make it our great care to hold fast the doctrine of faith and 
good manners contained in the Scriptures of truth ; that we will 
attend all those duties that are therein prescribed for the increase 
of our ijiith and growth in holiness, and of maintaining a good 
conscience, that is, gospel preaching, mutual exhortation, ordinan- 
ces, discipline, prayer, singing of psalms, etc. 

3. And, as God is the Author of order, beauty, and peace, we do 
solemnly promise that, by the assistance of God's Holy Spirit, we 
will labor mutually to watch one over the other, and to observe 
all Christian and brotherly offices one to the other, which Christ 
hath enjoined accoi'ding to our respective places ; that is, love 
without dissimulation, and real expressions thereof as occasion 
serves, in daily frequent exhortation to duty, and admonition in 
case of sin and failing, praying for one another, and sympathizing 
with one another in affliction and prosperous enjoyments, and 
using all possible means to promote the spiritual welfare and 
growth of each other in holiness., 

4. First. We do submit to the discipline of Christ in this 
church, — the sum of which we do acknowledge as followeth, 
namely : That supreme and lordly power and authority over all 
churches doth belong only to Jesus Christ, who is King and Head 
thei-eof. He hath the government upon His shoulders ; hath all 
power both in Heaven and in Earth, and it is exercised by Him 
first in calling the church out of the world to holy fellowship 
with Himself; (2), and in instituting the ordinances of His worship 
and appointing His ministers and officers for the dispensing of 
them; (?.), in giving law for the ordering all our way and the 
way of His house; (4), in giving life to all His institutions and to 
His people by them; (5), in protecting and delivering His church 
against and from all the enemies of their peace. 

Secondly. The power granted by Christ to the body of the 
church or brotherhood is a prerogative or privilege which the 
church doth exercise. 1st, in admitting their own members ; (2), 
in choosing and ordaining their own otHcers; (3), in removing 
them from their offices and fellowship in case of scandal or any- 
thing that by the rules of gospel renders them unfit therefor; (4), 
In supporting and maintaining the gospel ministry, ordinances, 
and poor of the church, without using the civil sword or any co- 
her-sive means to force a man thereto. 

6. We do also promise, by the grace of God, to oppose all sin 



I- 



PAPER OF SEPARATE ECC. COUNCIL. 403 

and error in ourselves as far as in us lies, and in others wlien tliey 
appear, to \vit : all foolish talking and jesting, chambering, and 
wantonness, all vain disputing about words and things that gender 
strife and doth not edify to more godliness ; also vain company 
keeping, and spending time daily at taverns, tippliug-houses or 
elsewhere; also evil whispering or backbiting any person; also 
carnal and unnecessary discourse about worldly things, espe- 
cially on the Sabbath day ; unnecessary forsaking the assembling 
ourselves in private convenient conferences and especially on the 
Sabbath, and all other sins whatsoever both of omission and com- 
mission, etc. 

6. AVe will teach all under our care, as far as in us lies, to 
know God, to fear him, and to live in his way. And now as a fur- 
ther testimony of our hearty belief of the foregoing doctrine of 
f;iith and covenant, we not only call heaven and earth to record, 
but we subscribe and sign the same with our names. 



E. 

Extract rRo:\r Eesttlt of a Separate Ecclesiastical Council 
HELD IN Bennington, May 23, 1770. (See p. 59.) 

" "We see, then, from the general rules given in Scripture, Cam- 
bridge Platform, and from the reason and nature of things, the 
gospel ought to be supported by equality. The particular method 
of which we apprehend to be merely circumstantial where the 
essence of the duty is done and nobody injured, and we appre- 
hend the church and society may warrantabh^ unite in a method 
bj' mutual agreement to perform the same, with this reserve and 
caution : to guard the church from bondage. The society is by no 
means to be allowed to control or govern the church in the aflair. 
Therefore we think this church in Beunington has made a mistake, 
or taken a wrong step, though perhaps inadvertently, in giving 
the members of society, without any reserve, an equal right of 
judging in this affair, which, when the society is in the majority 
according hereunto they may bind the whole church contrary to 
its own mind or judgment. 

But as to the method of pursuing this equality, we suppose it 
may be varied so as to suit diliereut circumstances ; as, for in- 



404 APPENDIX. 

stance, if tlie circiimstauces are such as that by Sabbath contribu- 
tions the thing can be clone, very well ; or if a community agree 
to pursue a method of equality, as follows : Voluntary subscrip- 
tion for their mutual satisfaction; or that of equalizing a sum 
among themselves, — very well. Or perhaps some other method 
not mentioned may answer well in some circumstances. But in 
none of these ways is the matter to be left without the care and 
inspection of the church, which has the right of judgment con- 
cerning the duty, and when discharged by its individual members. 
And when any of the agreed-upon methods is come into, and each 
one's proportion is known, and any individual church-member will 
not discharge the same, and will not give any satisfactory reason 
why to the church, they have a right to use their discipline in the 
case." 

The " result " is signed. 



JOEIN PALMER, 
ISRAEL HOLLY, 
JOSEPH KENT, 
ZACCHEUS WALDO, 



Council. 



P. 

A Paper, wherein the Signers agree to be taxed to pay 
THE Minister.' 

We, the subscribers, inhabitants of the town of Bennington, 
being desirous to have the Gospel preached among us, do bind 
ourselves severally to bear our equal part in paying the cost of 
sending for a minister of the Gospel, for the above purpose ; and 
also of supporting him for the term of six months, according to 
our several lists in the year 1783. Witness our hands this seventh 
day of January, 1784. The above proportion to be paid to Samuol 
Safford, Esq., Jonathan Robinson, and Simeon Hathaway, Jr., a 
committee chosen for the purpose of receiving said money and 
settling with the minister. 

Elijah Pjoardmau William Sattcrlee 

Silas Kobinsou Tiinotliy Abbott 

Daniel Kinsley Samuel Tubs 

Nathaniel Kiugsley John Wood 

1 Original in possession of G. W. Kobinson. 



1 



m 



PAPER ON INDIAN CLAIMS. 



405 



• Ephraim Smith 

Joseph Robinson 

Matthew Scott , 

Dauiel Story 

Nathaniel Harmon 

Joseph Riicld 

Daniel Rudd 
•— Benjamin Fassett 

Benjamin Hulburt 

William Slather 

Eldad Dewey 

Samuel Safford 

Simeon Hathaway, Jr. 

Jonathan Robinson 

Henry Walbridge > 
■ Simeon Harmon 

Robert Blair 

Joseph Wickwire 
-- ■ Timothy Follett 

Simeon Hathaway 

John Kingsley 

Peter Harwood 

Solomon "Walbridge 

Jonathan Scott 

Simeon Harmon, Jr. 

Daniel Harmon 

David Robinson 

Samuel Holmes 

Ebenezer Walbridge 

Stephen Hopkins 

Robert Hopkins 

Isaac Tichenor 

Levi Hathaway 

Jesse Field 

Leonard Robinson 



David Tracy 
Thomas Henderson 
Thomas Abel 
Joseph Hinsdill 



Names added by the committee. 

Elijah Dewey f 

Nathaniel Brash 
— John Fassett 

Zechariah Harwood 
Joseph Farnsworth 
Samuel Robinson 
Joseph Willoughby 
Calvin Bingham 
Thomas Hall 
Joseph Safford 
Solomon Safford 
Jacob Safford 
Reuben Clapp 
Loan Dewey 
Joseph House 
Gideon Spencer 
Robert Cochran 
Charles Cushman 
Jonathan Fisk 
Isaac Rice ' 
Uriah Edgerton 
Issachar Norton 
Benjamin Demilt 
Aaron Demilt 
Joseph Tracy 
Aaron Hubbell 



G. 

A Paper to Settle Ixdian CL-iurs.' 

Whereas the Stockbridge Indian tribe, Capt. Jacobs and others, 
challenge twelve or more townships of land, situate and being 
on the west line of the province of New Hampshire, as chartered 
b}' Benning Wentworth, Esq., governor of said province ; and the 
said Indian tribe are willing, and will be ready on the first day of 



1 Original in possession of G. W. Robinson. 



406 



APPENDIX. 



January next, to treat with us, or any of us, respecting their title, 
and will at that time likewise appoint a meeting, at which meet- 
ing they Avill make it appear that they are the sole owners of, and 
have the only proper and lawful right to sell and convey the same ; 
and whereas, we, the subscribers, whose names are hereto an- 
nexed, being willing and desirous to make sure to ourselves and 
successors a good and sufficient title to the interests which we 
now possess, and to make such addition, or additions, thereto, as 
shall be thought proper and conducive to our moral interests by 
Mr. Jedidiah Dewey, Capt. John Fassctt, and S. Fay, whom we 
depute and elect to treat with said tribe, or such of them as will 
be necessary to treat with, in order to the procurement of a proper 
title to such land and lands, lying and being as aforesaid. 

In consideration of all which we severally engage for ourselves, 
heirs, executors, and administrators, to pay, or cause to be paid, 
to the said Jedidiah, John, or Stephen, the several sum and sums 
according to our proprietorship, as will appear by the charter 
aforesaid, both the sum and sums which he or they may give for 
said land, or lands, and the cost necessarily arising by means of 
the procurement of said title ; and to pay such sum and sums of 
money unto the said Jedidiah, John, or Stephen, at such time and 
times as he or they shall agree with said tribe of Indians. 

Witness each of our hands at Bennington, this thirtieth day of 
November, a. d. 17G7. 



John Fassett 
^Stephen Fay 
James Breakenridge 
Jedidiah Dewey 
Josepli Safford 
Elisha Field 
Nathan Clarlc 
Benjamin Whipple 
Simeon Harmon 
Henry Walbridge / 
John Wood 
Lebbeus Armstrong 
Samuel Tubs 
Samuel Kobinson 
Jacob Fisk 
Thomas Henderson 
Josiah Fuller 
Silas Ilobinson 
Samuel Hunt 



Leonard Robinson 
Samuel Montague 
Timothy Pratt 
Thomas Smith 
Jonathan Scott, Jr. 
Matthew Scott 
Daniel Scott 
Moses Robinson 
Ephraira Marble 
Samuel Cutler 
Stephen Hopkins 
^ Joseph Smith 
- Jonathan Fassett 
Josiah IJarber 

Benjamin Warner ■ 

Samuel Robinson, Jr. 
Joseph AVickwire 
Nathaniel Dickenson 
Daniel Mills 



GOV. HUTCHINSON S LETTER. 



407 



Jacob Hyde '''. 
Samuel Atwood 
Wait Hopkins 
Joseph Willougliby 
Ebenezer Wood 
David Safford 
Ebenezer Walbridge 
Cornelius Cady 
Nathaniel Holmes 
Zachariah Harwood 
Samuel Scott 
Elijah Story 
Johnson Cleaveland 
Nathan Clark, Jr. 
Jonathan Wickwire 
Ebenezer Allen 
Nathaniel Holmes, Jr. 
Nathaniel Harmon 
Joshua Harmon 
Joseph Safiord, Jr. 
Samuel Harvey 
Joseph Robinson 
Daniel Story* 
Elijah Wood 
Robert Cochran 
Nathaniel Fillmore 
John Stewart 
John Armstrong 



Joseph Rude 
Thomas Story 
Hezekiah Armstrong 
Benajah Rude 
Benjamin Atwell 
Oliver Rice ■' 
Daniel Warner — 
Aaron Haynes, 
Henry AValbridge, Jr. , 
Ebenezer Robinson 
Thomas Jewett 
Israel Hurd — - 
Jonathan Fisk 
Robert Wilcox 
Samuel Herrick 
Jedidiah MerrUI 
Abner Marble 
Elkanah Ashley 
Silas Pratt 
Benajah Storey 
John Wood 
Timothy Abbott 
Seth Warner — — 
Simeon Hathaway, Jr. 

Harmon 

Brothertou Daggett 
Charles Cushmaa 
Gideon Spencer 



H. 

Extract from a Letter of Gov. HuTcmNsox, of Massachu- 
setts, TO Gov. Pownal, then in London, dated Boston, July 
10, 1765.' 



"Permit me while you are taking care of the interests of the 
whole to mention to you that of a small part only. There came to 
me yesterday one Robinson who was one of your officers, and 
perhaps you will recollect meeting him upon the road when you 
was travelling to or from Hartford. After the war was over, he 
purchased from Mr. Weutworth a patent for a township which he 
had laid out upon the New York line, as then understood, twenty 

1 Vol. II. of Hutchinson's Correspondence, p. 143, in the office of the Secretary 
of the Commonwealth, Boston. Furnished by Gov. Hall, 



408 APPENDIX. 

miles distant from Hudson's Eiver. The settlers have made great 
improvements, have sixty-seven families, and as many houses, — 
some of them, he says, of a superior sort to the common settlers' 
houses, — have a minister ordained, and their affairs in a very flour- 
ishing state. The town is called Bennington. Another township 
adjoining, which has nearly as many families, is called Pownal. 
Both these townships are lately laid out, together with many others, 
by Mr. Livingston, who, having purchased the claims of officers 
and soldiers, has obtained a patent from New York ; and I suppose 
will have a second manor there. Eobinson says he has expended 
more than a thousand pounds, lawful money, and that he shall be 
ruined ; for he must either quit all or become tenant upon such 
terms as will be worse than quitting. The grantees from New 
Hampshire supposed their title as good to the west as to the east 
of Connecticut Eiver, provided they did not go within twenty 
miles of Hudson's Eiver, and it seems scarcely equitable that pri- 
vate property should be altered by the new settlement of the New 
York line. The people arc unable to bear the expense of the con- 
troversy." • 



THE END. 



